Jose Soriano’s dominance is hiding impressive Angels' rebound (but there's a catch)

Don't look now, but the Los Angeles Angels suddenly have two pitchers making a strong case to be fixtures in the team's starting rotation moving forward. All the attention is going to Jose Soriano, who has been brilliant through the opening month of the season, but Jack Kochanowicz is suddenly looking like the ascending pitcher he appeared to be after making his debut in 2024.

Kochanowicz posted an ERA of 3.99 through 11 starts with the Angels in 2024. The underlying metrics of his rookie season suggested the results weren't exactly matching the stuff. That should add context to the fact that Kochanowicz's ERA ballooned to 6.81 through 23 starts with LA last year.

Had things gone according to plan, Kochanowicz wouldn't have been with the big-league club to open the 2026 season. The plan was for Grayson Rodriguez and Alek Manoah to round out the Halos' starting rotation. Beyond the fact that both veteran pitchers struggled during spring training, they each landed on the IL ahead of Opening Day.

The door was open for Kochanowicz to walk through, and his first outing was rough. The 25-year-old gave up six runs on four hits and five walks in four innings of work against the Houston Astros to open his season.

Jack Kochanowicz looks dominant for the Angels but there's a catch

Strike that start from record, and Kochanowicz has been excellent. In the four starts since his 2026 disaster debut against the Astros, he's posting an ERA of 1.80 in 25 innings pitched. Going off those numbers alone, you would think that the young starter has figured things out. And, to be honest, a sub-2 ERA is always impressive, regardless of how a pitcher gets there.

The problem is there's very little reason to believe Kochanowicz's success is sustainable. His command has still been spotty, walking over 12% of the hitters he's faced since his start against the Astros, and only striking out 16%. Looking over his Baseball Savant page, outside of his fastball velocity and groundball rate, his pitching metrics are dripping in blue.

It doesn't stop there. The righty has an xERA of 5.21 in his last four starts. Expected stats can sometimes be a cheap parlor trick, as it ignores actual results, but in this case, it should be used as a suggestion that the other shoe will soon drop for Kochanowicz. He's been good of late and has been getting results, but it feels like that luck will soon run out.

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