Starter Jose Soriano is supposed to be an emerging ace for the Los Angeles Angels, but spring training games often produce some ugly pitching lines that are essentially meaningless because pitchers are just looking to get a feel for live action and get their work in.
That was the case for Soriano yesterday in his spring training debut against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Soriano lasted for just 2/3 of an inning, giving up four earned runs on three hits and two walks, although he did strike out both hitters, and he emerged from the game with an unsightly ERA of 54.00.
This sort of thing will happen all around the league this weekend, though, and the Angels were still impressed by what veteran catcher Travis d'Arnaud called Soriano’s “disgusting” stuff.
New manager Kurt Suzuki steered clear of the filthy euphemisms, however, referring to Soriano’s stuff as elite.
The Angels have known this for a while, even if Suzuki is new to the on-field, from-the-dugout version of Soriano. Catcher Logan O’Hoppe caught Soriano’s debut against the Dodgers on Saturday, and he’s maintained for a while that Soriano can be a perennial All-Star.
The numbers speak to the potential. According to Rhett Bollinger of MLB.com, Soriano’s power sinker averaged 97.2 mph last year, and he also mixed in a knuckle-curve that clocked in at 85.2. Add in a 92.3 mph splitter to neutralize left-handed hitters, plus a four-seamer and a slider that’s still a work in progress, and it’s easy to see why expectations are high for the right-hander.
"This year is going to be a huge year for him,” d’Arnaud said. “That sinker is real. Even if you know it’s coming, it's still really, really hard to hit. Obviously, his breaking balls are real too. Last year, he learned the split and got really confident with it. And sometimes we used his slider and even effectively used this four-seam too. Guys are sitting on the sinker and you can get either a cheap popup or a swing and miss.”
Soriano’s performance deteriorated last season as his innings count mounted, but he still had 152 strikeouts and 78 walks to go with a 4,26 ERA in 169 innings. More importantly, he improved his ground ball rate to 65.3 percent, which was the best in baseball by a lot.
What happened yesterday was also typical of a first training start.
"I was rushing myself,” Soriano said. “I have to not overthink and stay focused the whole game.”
As a former big-league catcher for 15 seasons, it will be up to Suzuki and new pitching coach Mike Maddux to slow Soriano down and hone his pitch selection, and it will be interesting to see where Soriano stands at the end of spring training.