Soriano's Glow-Up: Angels' Playoff Hopes

0:00It's April 17th. You're listening to MLB News Today, AI-powered baseball coverage. I'm Cory with the story. Angel's pitcher Jose Soriano has overcome a brutal injury road to become a legit front-line starter. After two Tom and John surgeries and missing big chunks of time from 2020 to 2022, he broke into the majors as a reliever, in. 2023 with a solid 3.64 earned run average over 42 endings. The team transitioned him back to starting in 2024, and he logged over 113 innings with a 3.42 mark. Fast forward through 2025, where he made 31 starts and through 169 frames despite a late season contusion. His ground ball rate topped 65% that year, making him the league leader. Soriano's always set up her 90s with velocity, leaning heavy on his sinker to chew up innings. Now in 2026, he's tweaking his arsenal big time, dropping the sinker from nearly 50% usage

1:00to just 30%. While ramping, up four seamers to over 23%, plus more splitters and sliders. In his first four starts, that's 27 innings with just one earned run for a tiny 0.33 ERA and a 32%. Strike out raid. The angels sit at 10 and 10, boosted by hot starts from Mike Trout, Oswald Paraza, and Reed Dettmer shifting to the rotation. Fans are buzzing about this internal surge after a decade of struggles and a payroll cut, but depth issues have burned them before and strong early. Seasons. If they fade by July, Soriano, with free agency looming after 2028, could fetch a massive trade hall like the Marlins got for there. Injury prone arms. Either way, his glow-up gives the Halo's real options to finally chase playoffs or rebuild smart.