Angels' José Soriano lowers ERA to 0.24, best mark in MLB history through first 6 starts

Obviously, most teams and fans would take Valenzuela’s run over Soriano’s given the innings discrepancy (54 to 37 2/3), but those two 1981 runs give Soriano the ERA edge.

Who is José Soriano, the Angels’ budding ace?

Soriano is in his fourth MLB season and had been a solid enough pitcher for the Angels at age 27, with a 3.89 career ERA entering 2026. Both his strikeout and walk rates weren’t what you would call impressive, but an arsenal headlined by a high-velocity sinker gave him an elite 66% groundball rate in 2025, per Baseball Savant.

Now, Soriano is getting strikeouts, while still getting groundballs. As of Wednesday evening, his 30.7% strikeout rate is 11th best among 82 qualified MLB pitchers. Per Baseball Savant, batters have only managed two hits, both singles, off his sinker in his first five starts, while his knuckle curve, his second-most used pitch, has caused hitters to whiff on 50% of swings.

That’s dominant stuff from a pitcher not many fans outside Orange County had heard of entering this season.

Will Soriano keep it up? No starting pitcher can sustain an ERA below 1.00, but his peripherals certainly indicate the Angels at least have a well above-average pitcher on their hands. Hitters will try to make adjustments, but pitchers with both high strikeout rates and high groundball rates, all backed by high velocity, tend to do quite well in MLB.