José Soriano proves he is still the future ace of the Angels

After a disastrous outing for Jose Soriano in Boston last week, Angels fans fell back into the routine of worrying if all of the good luck had run out. For most of this season, Soriano has been amongst the best starters in the American League West, if not the entire league. In the month of May, Soriano had posted a 2.34 ERA, and a matchup against the struggling Red Sox offered a chance to continue his dominance.

That did not happen, at all. He gave up seven runs as the Boston lineup teed off on him. He failed to get out of the fourth inning, and it appeared like he may have been figured out.

Alas, he has not. Soriano came out and dominated the Athletics on Tuesday night, having what was arguably the best start of his young career. He went seven full innings, allowing only one run and striking out 12 Athletics' hitters. They just simply could not touch Soriano's stuff outside of one double, and he had them swinging at nothing all night.

Soriano threw 110 pitches, giving everything he had as the Halos' offense could not come alive. He left the best game of his career in a 1-0 deficit, even though the Angels did eventually come out with the win after some clutch hitting and pitching out of the bullpen.

If we ignore the Boston start, Soriano has posted a 2.16 ERA, striking out 38 batters over that time as well. While a lot of the the focus has been on Yusei Kikuchi's claim to being the ace of the Angels, Soriano has just as much of a claim to that spot. He is putting together a potential All Star season if this dominance can continue throughout the rest of June, especially if he cuts back on his walks allowed a bit more.

The walks are the one thing holding Soriano from ascending into one of the premier starters in the MLB. He has regressed a bit in that category this season - his strikeout-to-walk ratio sits at 1.64 in 2025 after a 2.25 mark in his first two season - but he has improved vastly in arguably the most important category.

Jose Soriano is allowing 0.3 home runs per nine innings pitched, leading the entire league. This has allowed to largely avoid blowup starts, as even the disaster in Boston did not see Soriano allow a home run. While the Angels' young core on offense gets a lot of credit, Soriano may be the most important fixture in the future of baseball in Anaheim.

If Soriano can continue this dominance, there is little doubt he will be an All Star - if not in 2025 then in the coming years. But even more important, Jose Soriano is slowly becoming the true, shutdown ace that this Angels' fan base has not seen in a long, long time.

More LA Angels News from Halo Hangout