Angels Jose Soriano Ascending To Ace Status Not A Total Surprise

BusinessSportsMoneyAngels Jose Soriano Ascending To Ace Status Not A Total SurpriseByTony Blengino,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Tony Blengino covers all things baseball, with an analytical bent. Follow AuthorApr 21, 2026, 09:20am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Los Angeles Angels pitcher José Soriano throws during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds in Cincinnati, Sunday, April 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.You’ll see the words “it’s still early” in just about every article I write here during April and May. Both from a team and player perspective, there’s an awful lot of noise in early season numbers. Looking at the surface numbers alone, one would think there’s some real Sandy Koufax stuff going on in Southern California, with the Angels’ Jose Soriano off to a 5-0, 0.28, start.The easy part? He’s not THAT good. But he is really good, and if you keep tabs on this space, you already knew that. He’s been the one promising guy among the Angels’ pedestrian rotation over the last couple of years, though he kept you wanting more. He was basically the Southern California version of the Giants’ Logan Webb, but with far less impressive surface results. Tons of sinkers and groundballs, but quite a bit of authoritative contact allowed. Big arm, not as many missed bats as you would like.Each offseason, I unfurl my Pitch Grades series, which passes judgment on every qualifying offering thrown by pitchers with 135 or more innings pitched, based on their pitch-specific contact management and bat-missing performance relative to the league. More often than not, pitchers’ actual results fairly closely correlate with their pitch grades, which are then aggregated into starting pitcher Grade Point Averages.Webb has been an outlier every year, faring poorl...