PEORIA, Ariz. — José Soriano made a name for himself last year in his first season as a starter in the big leagues because of his signature sinker, but this spring he's focusing on improving his secondary pitches.
In his first start of spring training on Tuesday, Soriano threw two shut-out innings only surrendering a hit and a walk while striking out a batter. Three of the six outs he recorded came via groundout, which is his specialty.
Last year, Soriano made 20 starts and threw 113 innings with a 3.42 ERA. Despite being able to reach 98 mph on the radar gun, he doesn't strike out many batters. Soriano's strikeout rate was just 20.7%, which was two percent lower than league average.
That is because he used his sinker to induce groundballs. Soriano owned a 60.1% ground ball rate, which is 97th percentile on Baseball Savant.
Despite throwing 58% sinkers on Tuesday, Soriano said he's focusing on his secondary pitches today and throughout the spring.
"I've been working a lot on my secondary pitches, just attacking the strike zone a little bit better," Soriano said.
Soriano threw seven sliders out of his 24 total pitches but only got three swings and no whiffs and one called strike. Five of those sliders came in his second inning of work.
On top of working on his secondary pitches, Soriano also said that his goal is to stay healthy this year and has changed his diet.
REST OF THE GAME
It was a pitchers' duel in Peoria, as it wasn't until Bryce Teodosio hit a sacrifice-fly with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the eighth inning to score the first run of the game. Two batters later, Nelson Rada got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and brought in the winning run.
Matthew Lugo went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles.
Logan O'Hoppe went 1-for-2 with a two-strike single that was lined the other way into right field.
Cole Fontenelle hit a stand-up triple that one-hopped the wall in right-center.
Angels No. 3 prospect and second ranked pitching prospect George Klassen made his spring training debut, throwing a scoreless inning and allowing two hits.
The Angels won 2-1 over the San Diego Padres and continue Cactus League play tomorrow at Tempe Diablo Stadium against the Cincinnati Reds at 12:10 PST.