If Joakim Soria’s performance so far in his 14th year in the majors seems unlikely, consider the career path the A’s reliever has followed.
Two Tommy John surgeries. A Rule 5 draft pick. Traded four times. The most MLB appearances — 725 — of any Mexico-born pitcher, the fourth most among active pitchers.
At age 36, Soria has worked the second-most innings (15 ⅔) for an A’s bullpen that leads the majors in ERA (1.87). His ERA in 15 outings is 1.72.
“It’s pretty special,” A’s reliever Jake Diekman said recently, “what he’s doing in his 27th year.”
Friendly ribbing, yes. But Soria has impressed for a long time. In 2006, then-Royals scout Louie Medina made a trip to watch Soria pitch in a Mexican League game. Soria, at 22, had already undergone one Tommy John surgery on his right elbow and pitched in fewer than a dozen games in the minors. Medina saw a pitcher, though, who “looked like a veteran.”
“His poise and feel for pitches were just super-advanced,” said Medina, now a special assistant to the Royals’ general manager. “I just remember leaving that game that day thinking I saw something pretty special.”
When the Padres left Soria off their 40-man roster after the 2006 season, the Royals plucked him in the Rule 5 draft. Soria hadn’t pitched above A-ball but he posted a 2.48 ERA in 69 innings with Kansas City in 2007. He became an All-Star in 2008 and 2010 as the Royals’ closer and his 223 saves are 43rd all-time.
“The thing is, I recommended him as a No. 3 starter,” Medina said. “And to this day, I’m 100% convinced if he would’ve started, he would’ve been very successful at it. … It’s a guy with unbelievable makeup, work ethic, baseball knowledge, feel for the game - and talent. You’ve got to have all those things to have a career like he’s had.”
Soria had a second Tommy John procedure in 2012 and was traded four times in five seasons from 2014-2018 before the A’s signed him to a two-year, $15 million free agent deal as a set-up man. Billy Owens, Oakland’s assistant general manager and director of player personnel, said the A’s had previously “tried to acquire (Soria) in numerous ways” before landing him.
“He’s definitely been as advertised since we signed him,” Owens said in an email. “Supreme pitch ability and his knack for adjustments stand out. Advanced sequencing, different (arm) slots and varied velocity gives him unpredictability. Definitely difficult to navigate against him and predict his arsenal. His career numbers and longevity speaks for itself.”
Soria has thrown five pitches - a four-seam fastball, cutter, slider, changeup and curveball - to varying extent in his career. He was more than 80% fastball-curveball his first two seasons, then doubled his changeup use in 2009, per Brooks Baseball. In 2017, he threw a changeup a career-high 31.4% of the time. This season, his slider use (13.9%) is his highest since 2013.
Two years ago, with the White Sox. Soria added another wrinkle. Locked in a long at-bat against Baltimore’s Jonathan Schoop, Soria decided to drop his arm angle in his delivery.
“He grounded out and I was like, oh, it works,” Soria said. “Since that moment I started doing that. … It’s good because if I can throw at different angles, the perception of the hitter changes. Now if I throw a fastball, it’s two pitches because I throw from the top and from the side.”
It further diversifies Soria’s repertoire, which he also does by varying speeds. Soria’s average fastball velocity of 92.7 mph this season is his lowest since 2014, but he has reached 95 mph. Diekman, half-joking, estimated Soria can throw “anywhere from 20 to 37” pitches.
“Liam (Hendriks) plays catch with him and Liam’s like, ‘He has five different sliders,’” Diekman said. “He throws it from everywhere.”
Soria pitched in 71 games with a 4.30 ERA last year for the A’s. In 15 outings this season, he has allowed 12 hits with 17 strikeouts and hasn’t given up a home run after allowing nine in 2019. His 9.8 strikeouts-per-nine-innings rate is his lowest since 2016 but equal to his career average. He didn’t give up an earned run in his first 9 ⅔ innings before allowing runs in three of his last six outings.
“Soria is speeding up and slowing down bats a lot better, changing speeds better,” an A.L. scout said. “He has a better feel for both sides of the plate. … He threw harder last year, but he’s pitching better this year because he’s dotting (locations).”
Said another scout: “He’s not going to out-stuff you, but he’s able to throw five pitches for strikes … so he can mess up your timing and attack your weaknesses. He’s got the instincts to pitch, kind of like a Zack Greinke but in the bullpen. No heart rate, no panic. If you’re a manager, you trust him.”
Medina, the Royals scout, also noted Soria could be “Greinke-ish” in his use of a big, slow curveball to change hitters’ eye level and timing. “He evolves, and he can give you a different look,” Medina said. “He’s a guy that can pitch probably until he’s 40.”
On Aug. 21, Soria found himself in a battle late in a 5-3 game with the Angels’ Mike Trout. After seven pitches - including six fastballs, two of which Trout fouled in a full count - Soria threw a 76 mph slider that Trout took for strike three, nodding at Soria as he left the box.
“I don’t think anybody else can do that besides him or have the wherewithal to know, hey, I can get away with a slider here middle-middle and he’s going to look it,” A’s reliever T.J. McFarland said.
McFarland, in his first A’s season, said of Soria’s role among the relievers: “He’s ‘El Jefe’ - he’s our leader.” A’s pitching coach Scott Emerson said it’s “fun to see a guy that nothing rattles.”
“The one thing I love about (Soria) is he’s cool, calm, collected,” Emerson said. “He just goes about his business. And that’s why he’s been here so long.”
Chronicle staff writer Susan Slusser contributed to this report.
Matt Kawahara covers the A’s for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: mkawahara@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @matthewkawahara
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