Is it fair for Angels fans to begin worrying about Jorge Soler?

The Angels' offense was anemic during 2024's franchise-worst 63-99 campaign when the team finished 25th in the league with a 90 wRC+. A big reason for that was the putrid performance from a rotating cast of misfit toys at the DH position which somehow combined to be worse than the team average, posting a paltry 11 homers and a wRC+ of 80.

The rotating DH strategy failed miserably as no one thrust into that role managed to satisfy the core component of the job -- to hit. General manager Perry Minasian's first order of business was to upgrade that spot, and on Halloween, he hit up his favorite trading partner, the Atlanta Braves, to find his solution.

Swapping the struggling starter Griffin Canning for a picture perfect fit at DH in Jorge Soler was supposed to cure all of the Angels' ills regarding the position and provide them with a power bat with a proven track record of producing runs for the heart of the order.

The Angels might need to admit that Jorge Soler is best suited for a different role

As the team's cleanup hitter, Soler has struggled through the small six-game sample. After two series, he's got a .200/.292.250 line paired with a 33.3% K-rate. Most concerning, his performance with runners is scoring position has left something to be desired over the small sample.

In four at-bats with runners in scoring position, Soler is 0-4 with three strikeouts. Three of those scenarios have come with two outs, and he's struck out twice in those three opportunities.

This doesn't necessarily come as a surprise, Soler has always been somewhat of a three-true-outcome hitter. He has tremendous power, but will strikeout out at a higher than average rate while also getting his fair share of bases on balls.

That profile is typical of a middle-of-the-order bat, however, that's not where Soler has been most effective in his career. If the Angels were to construct their ideal lineup based on each player's strengths, Soler and Taylor Ward would flip-flop their spots in the order.

For his career, Soler has been most productive out of the leadoff spot, where he has a career .258/.368/.494 line, while Ward has been best batting cleanup with a .293/.366/.520 career mark. For what it's worth, Soler has been at his best in the young season when leading off an inning, going 2-for-5 in such situations.

It's not fair to worry about Soler just yet. His track-record of success is too long to ignore after just six sub-par games, however, the real question is whether or not Ron Washington will begin eschewing conventional wisdom and start putting his players in the best places to succeed.

The Halos' grizzled manager has repeatedly made questionable decisions so far this season, the latest of which led to a bullpen meltdown to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the series finale against St. Louis.

It's still early, but it might be a long season for Soler if he's consistently pigeon-holed into the cleanup spot based on appearance rather than actual results.

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