The Los Angeles Angels’ starting pitcher, Jose Soriano, is majorly outperforming his league minimum contract. Could San Diego pull off a bold deal for the right-hander?

Statistically, Jose Soriano has been all over the place in 2025. He leads the MLB in walks. He’s allowed the sixth-most hits among American League pitchers. He owns the 18th-most strikeouts in the AL as well. Most importantly, however, he has yet to miss a start and has induced the most ground balls in the MLB.

All of these eye-popping numbers have come on merely a league minimum contract. Currently, he’s posting a 3.39 ERA, landing him on the fringe of the top-30 range for starting pitchers.  The Angels are 37-40 and likely not in a spot to contend once again, barring an impressive streak heading into the second half.

It’s pretty clear where the concept is going. Los Angeles could avoid paying Soriano after the season and secure a solid return of prospect capital.  More specifically, for the Angels, they could add multiple key pieces to their subpar farm system, which ranked last in MLB.com’s farm system rankings back in March.

For San Diego, starting pitching depth hasn’t been much of an issue. However, innings and quality starts have been more elusive. The starting rotation ranks 14th in ERA and 18th in total innings pitched. Correspondingly, this comes with Michael King missing extended time, and Yu Darvish still yet to make his season debut. Both of those arms are capable of what San Diego has lacked: lengthy, high-quality outings.

What does Soriano feature on the mound?

Primarily, he features a sinker/curveball mix, with a splitter and slider as throw-in pitches. The sinker accounts for the majority of usage at 51% and is key to success in his outings. The curveball serves as the equalizer, coming in 12 MPH slower than his two-seamer.

What catches the eye first about Soriano is his high-octane velocity that he features on his pitches. Not only does he clock his sinker in at 97.1 MPH on average, but he also gets his curveball across at 85.2 MPH

Jose Soriano has been incredible his in his last three starts!

6/10 vs. ATH: 7.0 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 12 K

6/16 @ NYY: 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 6 H, 6 K

6/21 vs. HOU: 6.2 IP, 1 ER, 3 H, 10 K

That’s good for a 35.9 K% over that span, and he’s lowered his season ERA to 3.39 ?#RepTheHalo pic.twitter.com/KLk3yAqOBF

— High Leverage Baseball (@HighLevBaseball) June 23, 2025

However, what makes him so elite at inducing ground balls is actually the break those two pitches. Soriano’s sinker carries just 3.0 inches of induced vertical break. Therefore, the pitch is classified as well above average in both velocity and downwards drop.

Moreover, his curveball also drops off a cliff, breaking -9.9″ worth of iVB downwards, creating more ground ball action. Even his slider and splitter break south at an impressive clip.

With high velocity and sharp drop, it’s tough for even the best hitters to put the ball in the air against him. His ground ball ability has been the calling card in his career, and figures to be for years to come.

More of José Soriano‘s Unfair Stuff.

11Ks thru 6. pic.twitter.com/I2U0lmNyEk

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 11, 2025

What makes Soriano a good fit for San Diego?

Firstly, he’s capable of going deep into games, a trait San Diego should value. Soriano has pitched 7+ innings in five of his 16 starts. Additionally, he ranks 10th in the AL in total innings and averages just under a 6-inning average per outing.

There’s no question that San Diego’s bullpen has fallen back to earth, but likely won’t see any upgrades via trade. This is in large part due to a workload that has steadily increased. Taking heat off the bullpen was precisely how the unit found success early in the year. Soriano has the means to help accomplish just that for San Diego.

On another note, San Diego’s rotation lacks ground ball pitchers, as Stephen Kolek is the only exception. Soriano is essentially the Merriam-Webster definition of a “ground ball pitcher.” His 66.9% ground ball rate would serve as a great counter in the predominantly four-seam fastball-oriented rotation.

José Soriano balled out in the Bronx tonight! pic.twitter.com/OXmdZcTtTZ

— Pitch Profiler (@pitchprofiler) June 17, 2025

What’s the risk in trading for Soriano?

You’re talking about MLB’s leader in total walks switching catching staffs, with win-now pressure suddenly in place. That narrative alone could be a recipe for disaster, especially considering his limited experience in Major League Baseball.

Secondly, he could finally fall back into the reality of his expected stats. In all three of his seasons, he’s outperformed his expected ERA by at least .40. As an inning-eating, mid-3 ERA pitcher, Soriano’s value is high. As an above-4 ERA pitcher who can’t go as deep into games, his value tanks significantly.

The last negative in trading for Soriano— which will be built on later— is the expensive package that he’ll cost. This is all due to his age and contract situation. At a league minimum and 26 years old, any buyers will be getting a relatively cheap deal in terms of money.

However, it won’t be cheap in terms of the player package that the Angels will ask for. To make up for his cheap contract, the return package for Soriano should be much higher than if he were on a typical deal.

What would a package for Soriano look like?

As mentioned beforehand, the price tag would be higher than your typical starting pitcher “rental”. With the Angels in the ascension phase of their rebuild, near-MLB-ready prospects will be their top target.

To San Diego, that likely means outfielder Tirso Ornelas, or pitchers Bradgley Rodriguez and Francis Peña. Then, potential add-ons could be Kavares Tears or Tyson Neighbors at the lower levels, or Stephen Kolek or Sean Reynolds at the MLB level.

Either way, San Diego would either need to include a young, MLB-ready pitcher or part ways with one of their young core pieces. More likely than not, Los Angeles will opt for the more experienced option.

It wouldn’t be a surprise at all to see the trade operate out of the MLB and Triple-A levels exclusively.

Willy Warren

A 17-year-old San Diego native, Willy Warren is a baseball fan at heart who created High Leverage Baseball, a combination of around-the-league statistical analysis and breakdowns on X, and daily newsletters on the TikTok platform. Willy passionately studies Journalism at San Dieguito Academy, and is working to become billingual in Spanish to assist in communicating with Latin-born players and coaches.