Think of any great pitcher in modern MLB history. None of them had a start to the season quite like Los Angeles Angels right-hander José Soriano.
With five scoreless innings against the Toronto Blue Jays on Wednesday, Soriano lowered his ERA to 0.24. That’s not just the best mark in the league, it’s the best by any pitcher in MLB history through their first six starts to the season (min. 30 innings), according to MLB.com’s Sarah Langs.
Soriano is also the only pitcher in MLB history to allow only one run in his first six starts of the season, per the Angels. The Angels are now 6-0 in his starts, with a 7-3 win over the Blue Jays.
Soriano’s lone earned run came against the Atlanta Braves on April 6, when fellow breakout player Drake Baldwin knocked a solo homer off him in the first inning. Here is that homer:
The obvious comparison is Los Angeles Dodgers great Fernando Valenzuela’s legendary run to open the 1981 season, in which he threw eight straight complete games to begin the year and ended up winning the Cy Young Award, Rookie of the Year and a World Series title. In that case, however, Valenzuela allowed a run in two of his first six starts, making his ERA 0.33.
Obviously, most teams and fans would take Valenzuela’s run over Soriano’s given the innings discrepancy (54 to 37 2/3), but those two 1981 runs give Soriano the ERA edge.
Who is José Soriano, the Angels’ budding ace?
Soriano is in his fourth MLB season and had been a solid enough pitcher for the Angels at age 27, with a 3.89 career ERA entering 2026. Both his strikeout and walk rates weren’t what you would call impressive, but an arsenal headlined by a high-velocity sinker gave him an elite 66% groundball rate in 2025, per Baseball Savant.
Now, Soriano is getting strikeouts, while still getting groundballs. As of Wednesday evening, his 30.7% strikeout rate is 11th best among 82 qualified MLB pitchers. Per Baseball Savant, batters have only managed two hits, both singles, off his sinker in his first five starts, while his knuckle curve, his second-most used pitch, has caused hitters to whiff on 50% of swings.
That’s dominant stuff from a pitcher not many fans outside Orange County had heard of entering this season.
Will Soriano keep it up? No starting pitcher can sustain an ERA below 1.00, but his peripherals certainly indicate the Angels at least have a well above-average pitcher on their hands. Hitters will try to make adjustments, but pitchers with both high strikeout rates and high groundball rates, all backed by high velocity, tend to do quite well in MLB.
Read the full article here