Los Angeles Angels starter Jose Soriano has perhaps been the story of the season thus far, and one of the few bright spots in what has been a less-than-hopeful 18-29 start. On Sunday, the Halos secured just their third series win of the 2024 campaign by defeating the Texas Rangers. And the victory can be directly attributed to what Soriano continues to accomplish with each start.
Soriano pitched deep into the eighth inning, recording 7.2 frames for the longest start of his career. And it wasn’t just about the length of the start. Soriano allowed one earned run — a Corey Seager solo homer in the fourth — with five hits, two walks and five strikeouts. He needed an efficient 93 pitches to get four outs away from the complete game.
It’s yet another in what has become a growing list of strong starts from the first-year starter that converted from the bullpen in the offseason. Soriano had a learning curve in his first three starts, but has a 2.48 ERA and a 1.211 WHIP in his last seven starts — 36.1 innings — including three shutouts of at least six innings in length.
Sunday’s start saw him receive widespread praise from those in attendance, including Angels teammates and even the umpires, via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com:
“Every umpire I talk to, they think it’s top-3 stuff in all of baseball,” said catcher Matt Thaiss. “It’s out of this world. As long as he does what he did today and fills up the zone, it’s kind of unhittable.”
“He just seems to get better and better with every start,” said center fielder Mickey Moniak. “Obviously, last year, we saw him out of the ‘pen and he was incredible. For him to be able to transition back into a starter and learn as he goes and to kind of just progressively get better and refine his craft with that stuff, it’s fun to watch, especially from center field.”
The Angels may have stumbled into a gem with Soriano, who is only 25 years old and has quickly become one of the best pitchers in the organization. His mix of stuff and speed has garnered him a 124 career ERA+ through two seasons, posting the exact same figure out of the bullpen and in the starting rotation.
Soriano and the Angels are both excited to see the success, even if all parties expected it, and are ready to see if Soriano can continue to establish himself as a franchise cornerstone.
Angels acquire Roansy Contreras
Over the weekend, the Angels decided to take another shot with a cast-off starter-turned-reliever by acquiring Roansy Contreras from the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was designated for assignment by the Pirates last week when they called up No. 1 prospect Paul Skenes.