Angels lose Jose Soriano to Rule 5 Draft

The Rule 5 draft took place on Thursday morning, and the Angels were quite involved early on. The Pittsburgh Pirates used their No. 1 pick to select RHP Jose Soriano, the No. 13 prospect in the Angels’ system, per MLB.com.

Soriano, 22, was signed as a free-agent out of the Dominican Republic back in 2016. The RHP had Tommy John Surgery back in February.

He last pitched for the Burlington Bees in 2019. Soriano appeared in 17 games while starting 15 of them. He went 5-6 and posted a 2.55 ERA. The righty posted a 1.30 WHIP and had 84 strikeouts in 77 ²⁄₃ innings of action.

The Angels also lost LHP Garrett Williams to the St. Louis Cardinals. The 26-year-old last pitched in 2019 for Richmond, appearing in 29 games and starting 20 of them. He went 7-8 with a 3.60 ERA while striking out 108.

With the eighth pick in the draft, the Angels selected RHP Jose Rivera from the Houston Astros. The 23-year old was ranked as the Astros 9th best prospect on FanGraphs, with a 70-grade fastball that has reportedly touched 102 mph, per Baseball America. In 2019 for Quad Cities, Rivera appeared in 18 games and started 11 of them. He went 5-5 and posted an ERA of 3.81. In 75 ²⁄₃ innings of work he struck out 95 but did also issue 36 walks.

In Round 1 of the Triple-A phase, the Angels selected shortstop Brendon Davis from the Texas Rangers. He’s a local kid, as he was born and raised in Lakewood, CA. In AA in 2019, Davis hit .202 with three home runs.

With their last selection of the day, the Angels selected catcher Gustavo Campero from the New York Yankees. In 2019, the 23-year-old hit .293 with an OPS of .788.