Angels' Ron Washington on Breakout Starting Pitcher: 'He Has It'

Los Angeles Angels manager Ron Washington praised starting pitcher Jose Soriano after he kept the New York Yankees scoreless through seven innings in the Angels' 4-0 on Tuesday.

“It’s gonna take more time, but he has developed,” Washington said. “He has shown back-to-back days that he had the ball, the consistency of what he could do. Now he’s just got to start sustaining it. We always knew he had good stuff, and he’s only in the second year of starting, so there’s still a lot for him to learn. But I tell you what, he has it.”

Soriano became a full-time starter in 2024, where he started just 20 games after missing extended periods of time due to injury. He pitched 113 innings and put up a 3.42 ERA, which led Angels starters last season. His 121 ERA+ was also the best among those in the rotation.

This season, he has arguably been even better than his breakout season as a starter despite his slightly-higher ERA of 3.54. He currently leads MLB in home runs per nine innings at 0.3, and has the second-highest strikeouts per nine innings in the rotation at 7.3.

Against the Yankees on Tuesday, Soriano pitched seven shutout innings, allowing six hits while striking out six. This is the second consecutive outing in which he has lasted seven innings, as he did the same against the Athletics June 10. He allowed two hits and one run while striking out 12 in the Angels' 2-1 win over the A's.

Soriano has pitched through the sixth inning on eight occasions this season, allowing just five runs across all of them. All eight have registered as quality starts for the right-hander.

The Angels will hope Soriano can remain healthy this season, as they have used just five starters all year and are pursuing a postseason spot. The Angels sit seven games back in the AL West and are just two games under .500, which is good for third in the division. After taking a four game series against the Yankees, the Halos face off against the first-place Astros at the Big A on Friday at 6:38 p.m. PT.

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