José Soriano has cooled off some after his blazing opening to the 2026 season, but his All-Star case is still very much alive.
The Angels right-hander is sitting 10th in the American League in innings pitched with 95, 10th in ERA at 3.32, and 11th in strikeout rate at 25.4%. With each league allowed 12 pitchers on the All-Star roster, including at least three relievers, Soriano has done enough to look like a legitimate Midsummer Classic candidate even with the Angels stuck in the basement.
The problem for Soriano is that the Angels may not have room for everyone who deserves it.
Mike Trout is the club’s lone finalist among position players, and if he makes the team - even if an injury keeps him from taking the field - that would satisfy the rule requiring at least one All-Star from every club. But the real squeeze for Soriano comes from two other Angels starters who have put together All-Star-caliber seasons of their own.
The American League is only going to carry nine starting pitchers at most, and it may settle for seven or eight if it wants to leave room for an extra reliever or two. That makes it tough for one team, especially a last-place one, to sneak multiple starters onto the roster.
Reid Detmers is probably Soriano’s toughest internal rival. He’s ahead of Soriano in innings pitched with 99.2, good for fifth in the AL, and his strikeout rate of 27.6% ranks sixth. His 3.88 ERA might turn off some voters who lean heavily on that number, but his 2.96 FIP and 2.9 fWAR put him among the five best pitchers in the league this season.
Then there’s Walbert Ureña, the rookie who has made a strong case despite not throwing enough innings to qualify for the leaderboards. Ureña has an ERA of 3.14, a FIP of 3.25, and a fWAR of 1.2, all of which land him squarely in the conversation with his teammates. He also has the edge in recent performance, with a 1.64 ERA in May and a season-best 3.66 FIP in June.
Any of the three would be a deserving Angel at the All-Star Game. The catch is that all three probably won’t make it. Detmers looks like the safest bet, assuming he’s still in the organization by mid-July, though Soriano may have done enough with that eye-opening start to give himself a real shot.
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