José

Soriano

Soriano missed his previous turn due to illness, but one wouldn’t have guessed that based on today’s showing. He topped out at 100.0 mph on the gun and threw 40 of his 60 pitches for strikes. Soriano’s situation holds him back as a fantasy starter, but he projects as the Angels’ best pitcher and he’ll at least be a streaming option in mixed leagues.

The Angels will push the 27-year-old back to an undetermined date, and George Klassen will start in Soriano’s place.

On the plus side, the 27-year-old hurler did manage to punch out four batters on the afternoon while issuing just one free pass. The Cubs scratched out a run in the opening inning on an RBI double by Dylan Carlson. Soriano then allowed a Pedro Ramirez sacrifice fly in the second inning and plunked Michael Busch with the bases loaded to force in another. Despite the ineffectiveness, Soriano threw 40 of his 59 pitches for strikes in the contest and showed increased velocity across the board, averaging 98.9 mph on his fastball (+1.0 mph). He’ll need to work on that 17.18 ERA though if fantasy managers are going to have any confidence in him heading into the start o the regular season.

Thankfully, this happened in exhibition season. Soriano allowed three hits and a pair of walks, but he did at least pick up a pair of strikeouts. The 27-year-old was decent over his 31 starts with a 4.26 ERA, but he’s more of a streamer than someone fantasy managers can trust over a full campaign.

Two years before his major league debut, Soriano collected a year of service time as an injured Rule 5 pick in 2021, making him arbitration eligible now. The 27-year-old had a 4.26 ERA in 31 starts for the Angels last season. He’d seem to offer considerably more upside with his ability to miss bats and generate grounders, but his situation in Anaheim has held him back somewhat.

Soriano was struck by a 107-mph line drive during Wednesday’s start against the Brewers. Though X-rays came back negative for any fractures, he’s still dealing with a contusion and wasn’t going to be able to make his next scheduled start, so he’ll finish the year on the injured list. The 26-year-old wraps his 2025 campaign with a 10-11 record, 4.26 ERA, 1.40 WHIP and a 152/78 K/BB ratio over 169 innings in 31 starts.

Soriano appears to have avoided serious injury after initial X-rays came back negative for any fractures after taking a 107 mph line drive to his pitching hand during the second inning of Wednesday’s start in Milwaukee. The 26-year-old was charged with three runs over 1 1/3 innings. He’s obviously not a lock to make his next start on Tuesday against the Royals, but doesn’t appear to be facing an extended absence.

Soriano was given an extra day of rest, but it didn’t really help. He gave up a two-run double to J.P. Crawford, and then Julio Rodríguez followed three batters later with his own two-run two-bagger. Soriano appears to be tiring as the season finishes up, which is understandable considering he’s over 50 innings above his career high. Assuming he stays in the rotation, he’ll face the Brewers in Milwaukee.

Soriano was scheduled for Wednesday’s bout against Minnesota, but the Angels will give him an extra day after he was awful Friday against the A’s with 2 1/3 innings of eight-run baseball. Jose Ureña will get the start with Soriano pushed back to Thursday against the Mariners.

Oof. Soriano was so good during Sunday’s shutout of the Astros, and so not even kind of like that in this one. He walked five, and only 39-of-80 pitches went for strikes. When Soriano has been at his best he’s been sensational. There are just too many starts like this to have unconditional trust. He’ll try and get back on the good side Wednesday when he faces the Twins.