The Angels traded right-hander José Soriano to the Blue Jays for shortstop Arjun Nimmala, outfielder Eddie Micheletti and right-hander Angel Rivero.
The heavy sinker baller’s overall numbers, paired with two more years of club control, are worthy enough of a top prospect, boasting a 3.29 ERA in 22 starts and 127 strikeouts in 123 innings pitched.
The strong ERA is anchored by a scorching-hot start, though, as Soriano started the season by only allowing one earned run in his first six starts. He’s pitched to a 4.64 ERA in his 16 starts since.
When Soriano runs into trouble, it’s usually at the hands of his command, as he leads all of baseball in walks allowed (57).
When he’s in the zone, Soriano gets his outs by inducing groundballs with his sinker and gets swings and misses and strikeouts with his knuckle curve. Soriano’s knuckle curve has induced an average swing-and-miss distance of 7.9 inches, which is the fifth most among any pitch thrown in baseball.
Although Soriano is a quality arm with club control, there is still a risk of injury. Soriano already has two Tommy John surgeries to his name at just 27 years old.
Nimmala is the 43rd-ranked prospect in MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 and he’s slashing .280/.353/.458 with a .811 OPS and 115 wRC+ in 32 games since being promoted to Double-A. He’s 20 years old and was the Blue Jays’ first-round pick back in 2023.
Micheletti and Rivero aren’t in the Blue Jays’ Top 30 Prospects by MLB Pipeline, but Micheletti is having a strong season in Double-A, hitting .251 with a .800 OPS and 14 home runs. Rivero is just 19 years old and has a 2.36 ERA in nine starts and 12 appearances overall in the Florida Complex League while running a 28.7% strikeout rate and 12.7% walk rate.