{"id":696551,"date":"2026-05-12T01:00:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-12T01:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/696551\/"},"modified":"2026-05-12T01:00:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T01:00:23","slug":"jose-soriano-is-the-best-pitcher-in-baseball-and-his-statcast-profile-says-its-real","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/696551\/","title":{"rendered":"Jos\u00e9 Soriano Is the Best Pitcher in Baseball \u2014 and His Statcast Profile Says It’s Real"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seemingly out of nowhere, Jose Soriano is the best pitcher in baseball. His Statcast profile says it\u2019s real. We\u2019ll dig in to explain how he\u2019s doing it and what you should do if you have him or want him on your teams.<\/p>\n

Soriano is currently pitching to a 1.66 ERA, with a 1.05 WHIP and a 28.4% strikeout rate that has generated 61 strikeouts in 54.1 innings over nine starts. Despite the inept Los Angeles Angels<\/a> offensive, defensive, and bullpen, Soriano has nailed down six wins by pitching deep into games. That boosts his value in fantasy baseball<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The Statcast Profile That Makes Soriano’s Dominance Real\"Mike<\/p>\n

Mike Maddux\u2019s pitch-mix adjustments have transformed Jos\u00e9 Soriano into an elite strikeout-oriented fantasy starter.<\/p>\n

Fastball, Sinker, and Curveball Quality Breakdow<\/p>\n

Soriano features a four-seamer at 97.7 mph, a sinker at 96.8 mph, and a hard curveball at 85.7 mph to right-handed batters. He also mixes in a split-fingered fastball at 92.7 mph to left-handed batters. His slider has become more of a show-me pitch with just 5.4% usage so far.<\/p>\n

The real weapons have been Soriano\u2019s four-seamer, sinker, and curveball, which are all being used 24-28% of the time. The curveball and splitter have generated whiff rates of 44.4% and 45.8% respectively, while the four-seamer comes in at 19.8%, and his sinker is at 27.1%. Soriano has always been a solid groundball pitcher, although his groundball rate has dropped from last year\u2019s 65.3% to just shy of 50% in 2026.<\/p>\n

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The primary difference that has made Soriano so good this year has been the changes to his pitch mix by pitching coach Mike Maddux. The four-seamer use has jumped from just 9% in 2025 to the current rate. The pairing of his four-seamer and curveball have accounted for the bulk of the rise in strikeout rate. There were two problems in previous years.<\/p>\n

First, Soriano is using his power combination more effectively with his hard curveball, which has also upped the strikeouts. Second, he\u2019s using his secondary pitches less often in two-strike counts. Batters were waiting out his fastball to tee off on the slider and curve. Now that he\u2019s throwing the two power pitches instead of the secondaries in two-strike counts, he\u2019s getting more strikeouts and fewer groundball outs.<\/p>\n

Soriano has also refined the shape of his split-finger and sinker pitches to get elite-level vertical drop. Finally, it\u2019s the horizontal movement of his curveball at 12.5 inches to the glove side that makes it a unique pitch. The only pitcher whose overall power profile matches closely to Soriano is none other than Paul Skenes. The biggest difference between the two is that Soriano throws his curve much harder.<\/p>\n

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Exact Fantasy Strategy: What to Pay for Soriano Right Now\"Cal<\/p>\n

Cal Raleigh remains a realistic offensive trade return for fantasy managers moving Jos\u00e9 Soriano.\u00a9 Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images&NewLine;&NewLine;<\/p>\n

Trade Targets, Draft Value, and Roster Advice<\/p>\n

If you currently own Soriano in a redraft league, you likely picked him at an ADP in the mid-200 range. The way he\u2019s pitching now is the kind of draft value you look to hang onto. You\u2019re only trading him if you need to bolster your squad in some other way.<\/p>\n

You might ship him off to a team that\u2019s deep in power offense to get some hitting in return. You may be able to net yourself a home run hitter like Cal Raleigh, or an emerging outfielder like Jordan Walker. Regardless of who, you can likely bring back a hitter in the top-30-6 range.<\/p>\n

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In dynasty leagues, you\u2019re also hanging onto Soriano. However, if you look for a team that has a serious need of pitching to trade with, you can likely bring back a package of players. The key is to make a reasonable offer that still favors you to begin the negotiations. Then look to target specific players that will help you in the return. Be reasonable and your trading partner will be reasonable in return.<\/p>\n

Questions About Jos\u00e9 Soriano, Answered<\/p>\n

Why is Jos\u00e9 Soriano dominating in 2026?
A 97.7 mph four-seamer and a curveball generating 44.7% whiff rate against it are two genuine plus pitches working in tandem.<\/p>\n

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What should I pay for Soriano in trades right now?
The report provides specific trade-value guidance based on current market pricing.<\/p>\n

How much fantasy value does the current dominance add for Soriano?
The combination of strikeouts, low walks, and elite pitch quality projects him as a top-tier starter if the profile holds.<\/p>\n

Is Soriano worth rostering in shallow 10- or 12-team leagues?
Yes. His current combination of dominance and underlying quality makes him a priority trade target even in shallower formats.<\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on May 11, 2026, where it first appeared in the Fantasy<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Seemingly out of nowhere, Jose Soriano is the best pitcher in baseball. His Statcast profile says it\u2019s real.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2290],"tags":[5,3297,3508,56,18725,877],"class_list":{"0":"post-696551","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-baseball","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cal-raleigh","10":"tag-jose-soriano","11":"tag-los-angeles-angels","12":"tag-mike-maddux","13":"tag-paul-skenes"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116558904143150212","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}