3 burning questions from spring training the Angels are nowhere close to answering

Will an ace emerge in the Angels' rotation?

For years, the Angels have lacked top-end starters in their rotation, which has been a prime factor leading to the team's struggles over the years. One of the team's first orders of business this offseason was to try and solve that deficiency by signing Yusei Kikuchi to a three-year, $63 million deal.

Kikuchi was a risky move to fill the ace void. While adjusting his pitch usage following a deadline deal that sent him to Houston last season, resulting in an ace-like performance, a 2.70 ERA over 10 starts and 60 innings pitched, it seemed like an outlier for the veteran southpaw who owned a 4.57 career ERA entering this season.

Kikuchi isn't alone in the race to distinguish himself as the Angels' ace, however. Last season, the Angels moved Jose Soriano from the bullpen to the rotation and saw the hard-throwing sinkerballer put up some inconsistent yet promising results, finishing the year with a 3.42 ERA.

However, Soriano has a lengthy injury history and was shut down last season with arm fatigue after throwing just 113 innings. His stuff is nasty, but he entered this season needing to prove he could stay healthy and consistent over a full season.

As the two arms anchoring the top of the rotation, the hope was that either the 33-year-old Kikuchi or the 26-year-old Soriano would establish himself as a true ace, or at least, a frontline starter. So far, the results have been mixed for both.

Kikuchi started off the year looking shaky, allowing too many homers and walking too many batters. He's since righted the ship a bit and owns a 3.38 through five starts. After being plagued by the long ball too often early, he's settled down and is posting a 1.23 HR/9 rate that is more in line with the 1.28 he recorded last season.

Still, Kikuchi has struggled with walks, recording 4.30 BB/9 while watching his K/9 drop to 8.59, his lowest mark since 2019, his first stateside season. He's yet to put together a truly dominant outing and instead oscillates between above average and just okay.

As for Soriano, he opened the year hot, looking like he was on the verge of breaking out. His first start of the year was a seven-inning, two-hit performance against the Chicago White Sox. He also has a 7.2 inning gem where he allowed just one earned run to the Tampa Bay Rays on his ledger.

However, he's also had some clunkers. His most recent start against the pitiful Pittsburgh Pirates saw him give up five earned runs in just 3.1 innings. On the season, he has a 4.34 ERA and is walking 4.34 batters per nine while seeing his strikeouts decrease from 7.73 K/9 last year to just 6.83 this season.

Consistency will be key for these two, and until they prove that they can string together multiple good outings, the questions regarding the top of the rotation remain.