{"id":903074,"date":"2026-06-30T12:45:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T12:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/903074\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T12:45:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T12:45:19","slug":"how-angels-jose-soriano-balances-competitive-fire-and-mentorship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/903074\/","title":{"rendered":"How Angels’ Jos\u00e9 Soriano balances competitive fire and mentorship"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jos\u00e9 Soriano, the Angels<\/a>\u2019 27-year-old starting pitcher who opened the season looking like a potential staff ace, took a 107.4-mph comebacker off his upper chest and shoulder area in the first inning against Tampa Bay on June 13. He pitched through the injury, putting up five scoreless innings in an eventual 8-0 victory<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When one of his coaches reached out to him that night, asking how he was feeling, the right-hander responded: Did I win the game?<\/p>\n

Soriano\u2019s competitive mentality has kept him coming back to baseball despite his injury setbacks.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a friendly killer,\u201d pitching coach Mike Maddux said. \u201cThe nicest guy in the world. I just want to be on his side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soriano\u2019s journey in baseball reads better as a line-item report of how many times the sport has tried to knock him out: a Tommy John surgery in 2020, another in 2021, right arm fatigue and an abdominal infection in 2024 and a right forearm contusion in 2025.<\/p>\n

Yet, Soriano started this season on a historic tear, posting the lowest earned-run average (0.24) in a pitcher\u2019s first six starts of a season since earned runs became an official statistic in 1913, according to MLB.com\u2019s Sarah Langs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In April, he seemed like a Cy Young contender with a 5-0 record and five scoreless starts. In 11 starts since, he\u2019s gone 3-4 and his ERA has increased to 3.32, and in his two outings after getting hit with the comebacker, he\u2019s given up nine runs in eight innings.<\/p>\n

Against the Baltimore Orioles last week, Soriano lasted only three innings, giving up six hits \u2014 including two homers by catcher Samuel Basallo \u2014 and five runs, though the Angels came back to win the game in extra innings<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBaseball\u2019s cruel,\u201d Soriano said after the game. \u201cSome days you can be the best player. Some days you can be the worst, so I don\u2019t let these things affect me. I just try to forget about those things and keep my mind loose and be the same person every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the Angels, that steady presence has been appreciated during a turbulent season that includes the team firing general manager Perry Minasian<\/a> and replacing him with interim GM John Mozeliak<\/a>, as well as another injury absence for Mike Trout<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite his recent struggles, Soriano has been the subject of trade deadline speculation, with the Angels reportedly not wanting to move him<\/a> and other young players. Soriano, who is under team control through 2028, has started 68 games for the Angels since 2024, including 31 last season when he led the team in wins with 10.<\/p>\n

Angels catcher Logan O\u2019Hoppe said his batterymate \u201cdoesn\u2019t need to change a thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s gotten better every year I\u2019ve been around him, so I don\u2019t know what that ceiling is,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if there\u2019s a ceiling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soriano seems to bring the best out of his teammates. The other Dominican pitchers on the team, Walbert Ure\u00f1a and Jos\u00e9 Fermin, speak of Soriano as if he were their older brother, happy to dole out advice on an array of subjects. Ure\u00f1a, a 22-year-old right-hander who has emerged as another potential ace, speaks of Soriano with a giddy amusement mixed with a solemn respect for how the starter has survived in the big leagues.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeing with him here at this moment is special,\u201d Ure\u00f1a said. \u201cEvery day watching him doing his stuff, his routine, learning about it. All his family is here too. It\u2019s amazing. It\u2019s everything for me, being here with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soriano has created a sense of home for players who don\u2019t get to be around their families for most of the season. He remembers what it\u2019s like to not speak English as a young player in the minors, when he was taken under the wing of former Angels pitcher Carlos Est\u00e9vez, whom O\u2019Hoppe described as Soriano\u2019s mentor.<\/p>\n

Giving back to younger players on the team continues that legacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoesn\u2019t matter who it is, I can help,\u201d Soriano said. \u201cI know how hard it is. First year here, sometimes you don\u2019t know the language, and it\u2019s hard when you don\u2019t have someone [who] can help you, so that\u2019s why I try to help everybody I can.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jos\u00e9 Soriano, the Angels\u2019 27-year-old starting pitcher who opened the season looking like a potential staff ace, took…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":903075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[2379,591,1582,276,365649,2385,26803,1910,44330,2961,224,5337,365648,365650,10201,5950,22799,117775,3007,261667],"class_list":["post-903074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-angels","tag-baseball","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-competitive-fire","tag-day","tag-first-inning","tag-game","tag-jose-soriano","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-other-young-player","tag-potential-staff-ace","tag-run","tag-season","tag-start","tag-subject","tag-team","tag-walbert-urena"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116839129221009240","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/903075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}