Following the unexpected passing of Los Angeles Angels’ great Garret Anderson, I was once again reminded that Los Angeles has two baseball teams, even if one of them plays in Anaheim.
I’ve kept up on baseball this season, and two names keep poking out from this Angels team. One of them is, of course, Mike Trout, but the other has flown under the radar for years, until now — 27-year-old starting pitcher Jose Soriano.
Before his breakout season, Soriano was far from bad. In fact, in 31 games he started last year, he went 10-11 with a 4.26 ERA, 152 strikeouts, and just 12 home runs allowed. He was the definition of a perfectly average pitcher.
This year, however, he’s taken his game to the next level and has dominated competition.
In five games, he’s accumulated an outstanding 2.6 WAR, which is 0.3 above what he accumulated in 31 starts last season. He has won five games and has a minuscule 0.24 ERA across 37.2 innings.
Soriano is already making history, becoming the only pitcher since 1900 to allow one run or less in his first six starts.
His WHIP is 0.82, allowing just 18 hits and 13 walks. In total, he has allowed just one run — a home run he gave up to Atlanta Braves catcher and most recent Rookie of the Year, Drake Baldwin.
Despite being on a pitching staff with Yusei Kikuchi and Reid Detmers, Soriano started Opening Day for the Angels. That should have been the first indication that Soriano was good.
On Opening Day against the Houston Astros, Soriano dominated, throwing six scoreless innings, allowing just two hits. His next time out against the Chicago Cubs, he duplicated his performance, throwing six scoreless innings and allowing two hits.
In arguably his best game of the young season against the Braves, Soriano struck out ten batters in eight innings and allowed his only run of the year thus far. He single-handedly shut down the first-place Braves and put his team in the perfect place to win another game.
He followed it up with another amazing performance against another first-place team: the Cincinnati Reds. Across seven scoreless innings, he once again struck out ten and only allowed two hits.
His matchup against the San Diego Padres proved to be the most difficult. The Padres, coming off eight straight wins, including multiple walk-offs, were set to face the ace. Still, Soriano proved to be up for the challenge, defeating the Padres in 5.2 innings while striking out eight batters.
In his most recent game against the Toronto Blue Jays, he threw another scoreless five innings and fanned four batters.
Across these first six games, Soriano has been the best pitcher in baseball. He’s easily becoming a Cy Young favorite and the ace of the Angels.
Despite all of his eye-popping stats, his most impressive one in my eyes is his 1835 ERA+.
No one has even come close to that in a season in history. For reference, the average pitcher has a 100 ERA+. An elite pitcher or Cy Young finisher is normally about a 150. Through five starts, he is eighteen times better than the average pitcher and twelve times better than Cy Young contenders.
If this incredible run were to last somehow, even though it likely won’t, it would surpass one of the greatest pitching seasons ever by Boston Red Sox great Pedro Martinez, when he had a 291 ERA+ in 2000. Martinez recorded that during the Steroid Era, where he was unhittable en route to his 3rd Cy Young and an 11.7 WAR.
If there’s one thing that should be taken away from this, it’s that Jose Soriano is the real deal. Bask in his goodness even if it was just for these six starts. They were truly out of this world. Obviously, this is very unlikely to last. But never say never.