Pirates fans might've forgotten they once had American League's hottest pitcher

The hottest starting pitcher in the majors right now isn't Paul Skenes. It's not Tarik Skubal, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Garrett Crochet or Cristopher Sanchez, either.

Nope, it's someone long-forgotten from the Pittsburgh Pirates' past. Los Angeles Angels starter Jose Soriano and his mind-boggling 0.24 ERA take that crown.

Soriano's off to the best start since earned runs became a statistic in 1913. He's been incredible. And it's easy to forget that he was once a Pirates farmhand.

For all the Pirates fans wondering what a Pirates rotation would look like with a second elite arm flanking Skenes, Soriano is your answer. It just never came to be.

Soriano began his professional career with the Angels, but he wasn't exactly a highly-touted prospect. He signed out of the Dominican Republic for just $70,000 back in 2016. He underwent Tommy John surgery in February of 2020, leading Los Angeles to leave him unprotected in the Rule 5 Draft.

Pittsburgh selected him with the first pick in the Rule 5 proceedings that December, despite the fact that he'd be rehabbing for the majority of the following season. At that point, Soriano was a 22-year-old who had yet to pitch above Single-A.

He'd only pitch 3 2/3 innings on a rehab assignment before he'd have to undergo revision surgery on his elbow, effectively ending his season and his Pirates career. By November of 2021, he'd be DFA'd in favor of infielder Diego Castillo, and subsequently returned to the Angels.

Jose Soriano likely wouldn't be who he is today had he stayed with the Pirates

Here's the deal: at the point in time that the Pirates let Soriano go, it seemed like the right call. He had put up some good numbers in the past, but it was all in the lower minors. He didn't have much of a pedigree and had just suffered his second serious elbow injury in as many years. Only a clairvoyant would have held onto him at that point.

The other issue is, had Soriano not gotten hurt the second time, would he have turned out the same way? If not for the injury, he would have had to stay on the big league roster, which was a tall ask for a hurler making the leap from A-ball.

You can't assume things would have worked out the same way. Had he gotten shellshocked by big league hitters, he might have been ruined for good. There's no way to know for sure, but the probability is high that he would have bombed with all that pressure.

It's easy to sit back and think, if only the Pirates had been more patient, they'd have the most potent one-two punch in the majors with Skenes and Soriano — but that was never going to be the case. This is just an instance where the stars didn't align for Pittsburgh.

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