The Angels will build José Soriano up as a starting pitcher in camp, manager Ron Washington announced this morning (link via Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com). The right-hander is scheduled to start tomorrow’s matchup with the D-Backs, in which he’ll throw three innings.
Soriano is going into his second big league season. He pitched exclusively out of the bullpen as a rookie, logging 42 innings across 38 appearances. Soriano was one of the team’s better relievers, working to a 3.64 ERA. He punched out 30.3% of opposing hitters behind an excellent 14.8% swinging strike rate. Over half the batted balls he did allow were hit on the ground.
While his MLB work was in relief, Soriano had a track record of starting in the minors. He worked from the rotation into Low-A ball in 2019. Prospect evaluators considered the 6’3″ hurler an intriguing starting pitching prospect at that time, but injuries wrecked his next three seasons.
Soriano blew out his elbow in Spring Training 2020 and underwent Tommy John surgery. The Angels left him off the 40-man roster despite being eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Pittsburgh selected him with the first pick in that winter’s Rule 5 proceeding, aiming to stash him on the injured list while he completed his rehab.
That netted Soriano big league pay and service time but not the major league opportunity for which he’d been hoping. He felt recurring elbow pain during his minor league rehab and required a second Tommy John procedure that June. Pittsburgh sent him back to the Angels that winter instead of carrying him on the 40-man roster for a second rehab. Soriano missed almost all of 2022, only throwing 13 low minors innings on his rehab.
With almost three full seasons wrecked by elbow injuries, using Soriano in relief last year was prudent. He stayed healthy and was able to tally 65 1/3 frames between Double-A and the majors. The organization evidently hasn’t given up hope of him as a starter over the long haul. They’ll at least give him the chance to compete for a rotation role in camp.
The Angels aren’t alone in that regard. Teams like the Braves (Reynaldo López), Giants (Jordan Hicks), White Sox (Garrett Crochet) and Rays (Chris Devenski) have at least considered rotation roles for former relievers this spring. Tampa Bay has been particularly successful with this kind of move in recent years, moving each of Drew Rasmussen, Jeffrey Springs and Zack Littell from bullpen to rotation jobs.
Of course, injuries suffered by Rasmussen and Springs hint at the downside. Some pitchers (e.g. Jameson Taillon, Nathan Eovaldi) have stuck as starters despite having two Tommy John surgeries in their past. It’s not particularly common, though, so Soriano’s injury history could lead to questions about whether he’d hold up as starter. He’d at least be on an innings limitation in 2024. Soriano has never thrown more than 82 1/3 innings in a professional season. The Angels aren’t going to ask him to make 30 starts this year.
There’s also simply the question of whether Soriano has the command to stick. While he’s capable of overpowering hitters, he walked more than 12% of batters faced a year ago. He’d need to improve upon that as a starter, with the Angels hoping he can dial in his command as he gets further from the three-year layoff. Soriano worked mostly with a mid-80s curveball and a pair of upper 90s fastballs (sinker/four-seam) in relief. His breaking ball is already one of the best in the majors, but he didn’t use a changeup at any point in 2023.
The Angels have built this offseason around their bullpen. They’ve added Robert Stephenson, Luis García, Adam Cimber, Matt Moore and José Cisnero in free agency. The Halos haven’t directly addressed the rotation, although their volume approach to the bullpen could increase their comfort in giving Soriano a real chance to crack the starting five.
Washington has made clear the Halos will go with a five-man rotation in the post-Shohei Ohtani era. Barring a late addition from outside the organization, they’re set to go with Reid Detmers, Patrick Sandoval, Griffin Canning and likely Tyler Anderson as the top four. Soriano joins Chase Silseth, Zach Plesac, José Suarez and another potential rotation convert Andrew Wantz in the battle for the last spot.
Sure. It’s not like there are any good starters available in free agency.
They’re trying to show they don’t need Snell, Montgomery, Clevinger or even Lorenzen. It’s the Angels it’s not like they have a great track record of not imploding during the regular season…
“They’re trying to show they don’t need Snell” …..Snell’s initial ask was so enormous and outlandish, it probably sent at least 5 or 6 teams running for cover. By the time he became more reasonable and realistic the majority of suitors had already spent their alloted budgets. Players can take the risk of holding out and dragging out the free agent process but it’s not realistic to think teams will wait with them.
That no other teams are signing. However, you might as well force them upon the Angels so you can whine later about them wasting money.
Scott Boras is that you again?
Oh sure Pete Rose can play comedy, love the idea, love it! Ahahaha!
Yeah, but only by accident.
Spending $25-30 million per on Snell or Montgomery would be a mistake, an effort at a one player quick-fix that just won’t work … instead, this team needs a re-build, starting with the youngsters now on the roster. Maybe Minasian (and Arte) are actually wising up and doing just that without calling it a re-build (picking up a few strategic, won’t break the bank over the long-term vets).
unfortunately Minasian if not the whole Angels draft has been terrible.
Yep, listen to the expert aragon. Neto and Schanuel are the worst players in MLB history.
Remember where they were picked. I do understand why Minasian had to pick low potential, high floor players but currently they are not even league average players. Schanuel has no power and and doesn’t seem to possess capacity to improve in that area. Neto lacks range of even average SSs. And his injury concerns don’t magically disappear. Washington and his coaches will try to make them better so let’s see what they do.
aragon – “Schanuel has no power…”
Power is less important than getting on base, which Schanuel does very well.
They are in their age 23 seasons bro. Neto was really good at ss. And has a rocket for an arm, the instincts and IQ are through the roof and he hit 9 Hr in limited action. He could be a 20-25 guy. Schanuel gained 15 lbs of muscle and made adjustments to his swing. He’s 23… and hit 19 hrs in college last year. He’s 6 ft 4… the power will come.
First base is a power and production spot. Especially on a team like the Angels which has garbage offense in most positions. A punch and judy first baseman won’t help them. Neto can’t hit and has a chronic bad back. So yeah they aren’t the worst MLB players in history, but they are essentially undeveloped AAA players in the MLB.
Downing – “First base is a power and production spot.”
I’ve never understood that logic, or lack of it. Why does it matter where the power comes from? Power is power whether it’s from your 1bman or your CFer. Getting stuck in those narrow parameters makes no sense to me.
Please explain.
It’s rather easy. Typically your corner infielders, who are normally not fleet of foot or particularly slim in stature, have power to offset those cons.
Typically your middle infielders, center fielder and potentially a corner outfielder are speed and defense oriented, and not always power threats.
This obviously is not 100%, as guys like ARod, Trout, etc. Have broken the “typical” molds. But, you fail to acknowledge that I qualified my statement by saying that the “typical” first base power scenario was particularly relevant to a team like the Angels, that have poor offensive performers at most other positions.
Schanuel, unfortunately, is not a “typical” first baseman, which again historically, if you’ve followed the game for any time, are power/production positions.
Hope you now understand the logic.
Downing – People on here complained about Neto and others who play your typical “non-power” positions not having power. It seems these days every position is expected to have homerun power when I contend it doesn’t matter if anyone stands out as a HR hitter.. OBP is most important in my opinion. You can’t score if you don’t get on base. If you have a guy with power knock them in with one swing, great. But I’d take an inning full of singles in exchange for a guy who will either go yard or strike out. That’s my take. I hope you understand it. (I thought I’d end with a condescending comment like you did.)
Cheers.
Right, because OBP won the Rangers the World Series last year. News flash, it didn’t. It was good pitching and power hitting, by then likes of Semian, Garcia, Seager, etc.
I’ve rarely seen punch and judy OBP guys like Schanuel put together 5, 6, 7 singles in a row to allow for significant run scoring. There’s usually a power hitter in the middle, to hit the ball out of the ballpark or in the gaps.
Agree to disagree. But I’ll base my opinion on teams that actually get to the post season and win there, not a team like the Angels who haven’t sniffed the playoffs in a decade.
It’s not about a quick fix. They cannot compete for a playoff spot without a front end starter. Can’t do it. We can turn Wantz and Soriano and anyone they else into a starter– they’re not going to be Snell. And you need to build a rotation. Get Snell this year. Sign Max Fried next year and suddenly what a rotation they have.
Well, I’d pass on Snell (and Montgomery) the price is too high , and it’ll put us in another hole for years … a la Rendon, et.al.
And besides, if Boras does work out a deal that doesn’t put the Angels into a deep hole it’ll be with opt out clauses, which will cause Snell’s $$$ (demands) to skyrocket if he has a good year (maybe a big if).
So in the end, I’d like to see how we get on with Detmers, Sandoval and Canning along with Silseth and a fifth, maybe Anderson (since we’re on the hook for 2 more years).
Snell and Montgomery are going to sign deals where they can opt out after year one. Just like Bellinger and Chapman. The Angels are not in win now mode….so what’s the point.
They pitch well, and opt out? Or they suck and the Angels are stuck with their bad contracts.
‘61AngelFan – Snell is better than most think IMO. Take a deep dive into his numbers and he looks better and better. A lot of walks , yes. He also paints the edge consistently with the best of them. He allows few HRs because he doesn’t miss in the strike zone. He is a proven playoff pitcher. They are not signing him for 1 year and they are already deep with capable starters. They need top of the rotation. I think the new coaching staff will be light years better than 23. That should mean more wins . If they sign Snell and a more manageable injury rate, I think they have a realistic shot at a wild card. If not they would have Snell for next few years. Snell may not always have years like 23. He doesn’t have really bad years
Good points, but just worried about long-term deals after we’ve been burned by so many. And it’s particularly iffy with a pitcher whose numbers (e.g. walkrates) raise some real concerns.
Plus, I think Snell will wind up on a deal like Bellinger’s … short term, costly, with opt outs.
I really like the young staff, and not sure Snell is the anchor we need at this point.
Am I the only one who doesn’t see the point in this? You convert a guy to a starter, sometimes it works, but they’ll always be on innings limits because they never threw that much. Or they’ll just get injured and you won’t have them at all.
hm
“they’ll always be on innings limits ”
Who cares
“they’ll just get injured and you won’t have them at all.”
Maybe there’s another option
Maybe they could be good.
Until they’re injured (Springs and Rasmussen). Here for a good time, not a long time.
Most pitchers get injured
So…;shrug emoji:
Yes, you are right, Why convert a guy who’s already had Tommy John and who we need in the bullpen? He’s vital in that pen.
Two Tommy John’s.
Soriano only pitched 16.2 innings from 2020-2022 because of constant elbow injuries, and 65.1 last year between Triple-A and MLB. But sure, give him 120 innings as a starter. What could possibly go wrong?
Agreed. I don’t see how this is a good thing. There are starters who had injury/durability issues, and being converted to a reliever worked out. Let him be a solid reliever for a whole season or two then consider options as a starter
He shows flashes as a reliever so you decide to set him up for Tommy John round 3? Come on Angels, there’s better options out there
Yes and he’s vital to the success of the pen. The problem remains we don’t have a true #1 or #2 starter. You can’t win without front end pitching.
Sure you can win without front end pitching. It’s a cliche, and quickly debunked without much effort.
Our best starter in 2002 had a FIP of 3.71. Surrounded by a 4.37 ERA in 2001 and 4.97 in 2003.
It’s very hard to win without solid pitching, and everyone but Anderson is capable of stepping up.
Here comes Halos11, celebrating the faith and non-love for baseball of former All-Star A. Rendon. May he enjoy all the money.
Wow, nice dig. You are delusional if you think every Angel has a passion for baseball. However, unlike Rendon, they don’t get asked the question. And unlike Rendon, they don’t have an adversarial relationship with the press.
But you guys keep sucking it up and overreacting. Get some discernment. Grow a brain.
I hope the Angels go with the players in camp and not sign anymore FA’s. Next year there will be a larger quality FA starting pitcher base. Even if they sign one or two of the remaining free agents they will not be contenders.
If Soriano could pitch 80 innings during the first half of the season and Wantz 80 during the second half of the season at #4 quality , both finishing with 105 total innings I would say it was a success. Then in 2025 bump to 135 innings.
After this year we will know where we stand with the younger position players and if they are ready to step up and focus next off season on SP.
Sure, let’s just keep losing. The competition disagrees with you. The Astros signed Verlander and Josh Hader. Texas signed DeGrom, Scherzer, Tyler Mahle, David Robertson, Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Andrew Heaney. We signed who exactly? And what starters have we successfully developed? Pitching is what wins. Praying that 6 starters miraculously become elite because of the change in pitching coaches is delusional. You win with players. Do you realize that we don’t have a single pitcher better than any of the five pitchers the Dodgers put on the mound? Not a single one. And that doesn’t even include Ohtani who is not pitching.
So you really believe signing 2 SP now will make us better than Tex and HSN. U R NUTS.
Did you read my statement that next year there are better options at SP?
The Angels are too far from contending this year. They need to see what they have in the younger players and build next year when there will be better players available.
Does Texas have starting pitching that I don’t know about? Does Seattle have hitting I don’t know about?
The problem with playing whack-a-mole is you don’t know which mole to whack. There is talent on this team, and no one here is clairvoyant enough to know how much of this talent will show up.
Well this is the year to find out. No more whack a mole, let’s ride 2024 out and see where we are.
UR nuts we 100 percent agree. I’m not saying everything is going to right, not saying that, but if this team performs like it’s capable, it’s a 90+ win team.
There are also 10 players who can flop and this team will come close to losing 100 games.
It’s a unique season. I’m just going to try to enjoy watching and hoping O’Hoppe, Neto, Adell, Schanuel, Ward, Rendon, Trout, Ward, and these young pitchers step up.
Below is the projected SP for the beginning of the year due to all the Dodgers injuries with their staff.
It does not strike fear. Next year maybe but even Othani will be limited.
Projected 2024 Starters
Player IP W L ERA
1 Yoshinobu Yamamoto 164 12 8 3.79
2 Tyler Glasnow 137 11 6 3.61
3 Bobby Miller 146 11 7 3.95
4 James Paxton 95 7 5 4.45
5 Emmet Sheehan 102 6 5 4.32
6 Clayton Kershaw 60 4 3 3.75
Plus after number 4 hitter the lineup has a major drop off . They will be a good team but will not live up to the hype.
Take a guy who has already had multiple elbow injuries and ask him to pitch more innings than usual.
Brilliant as always.
Will take Ron Washington’s experience and expertise over yours any day of the week. Can guarantee you will whine about him after the Angels first loss this season.
Are you sure it’s Washington?
@halosheaven don’t get it, I was looking forward to Soriano in the pen or even send him down until someone implodes. I’m liking what I’m seeing from pomeranz so maybe he gets a shot.
I tend to think all this is, is to make him more of a RP swing man and spot starter this season, or for that matter an occasional opener for 3 innings.
Hey, it’s better to try n get 100+ innings for a quality guy, then say 65 in pure relief.
Oh, You shouldn’t be to worried about a 3rd TJ. It can happen just as easily in the BP throwing max every pitch, rather than taking a tic off and being stretched out.
Like him out of the pen more. He has electric stuff but with some command issues. Not sure stretching him out to being a starter is the move but what does this team have to lose….
“Electric” is carrying a lot of weight here
Another year where the Angels pen will stink.
Angels truly feel like a team with no plan. They just kinda linger around year to year hoping for lightning in a bottle. For a team that had two of the best players of the last half decade to feel that lost is astonishing. They need to clean house of that front office, get guys that know what they’re doing, trade away the vets of this team and rebuild the right way.
Are you just now realizing that the Angels have no plan? That is the one constant over the past nine years. Arte doesn’t invest in the organization thus the minor leagues are barron. The formula of signing players to big contracts is a losing proposition when there are no prospects to build a team around. Giving up draft picks when signing FA who have already had their best year to add to a middling team is an unsustainable plan. Teams that are consistent winners build from within. Neto and Schanuel were both products of their college programs. The Angels rushed them to MLB because they had no talent available in the organization to lean on. Signing Snell or Montgomery would only deprive the organization of necessary draft picks. Instead of Snell invest that money on player development and scouting. That is where the real difference makers are.
Tbh, and with all due respect, I’ve never cared enough about the Angels to analyze their lack of plans.
The vast majority of baseball fans out there look at the Angels the same way. Thats why I find it weird when fans of other teams go well out of their way just to bash the Angels. Halos will always be in the middle of the pack historically. They’ll have a run, a decade of falling on their faces, and the cycle has repeated itself for the past 45 years. They have always been one of those teams people don’t care about much. But when they’re in the playoffs, a lot of people, particularly baseball people, tend to root for them.
Oh I’ve rooted for both Trout and Ohtani. Those guys seriously deserved a run, but what an oddly run team.
Don’t do this dumb thing and sign Montgomery!
Nothing wrong with adding Monty on a 3 year deal. It’s a reboot year, and then add another next year. Then boom, u have a rotation, with a few of the guys stepping up that they already have.
He was a starter in the minors. Failed starters usually become relievers, but in a case like Soriano (injury history/disrupted development) trying him out as a starter is never a bad idea. You might get a quality starter out of it when he’s ready. Or a long reliever. I’ve actually been tracking this guy for years since he first signed. Something about him always caught my eye. Let’s see what happens.