Rafael Soriano’s pre-Tommy John surgery scouting report had him throwing a 96 mph 4-seamer. Well, it’s a couple years post-op, and Rafael’s got every one of those 96 mph back.

He was always a fastball/slider pitcher, and at 96 that’s probably good enough to be a very effective 8th inning man. But you’d love to see him develop a change-up or a split-finger pitch. Now that his elbow is 100% healthy, I’d be he could pick up a 3rd pitch pretty easily. Considering he’s getting ahead in the count with regularity, it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to mix in something new.

Right now he’s at 1.88 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 14 IP, 9 hits, 16:4 K:BB. His OBA is .184, .020 points higher than his breakthrough ‘03 season in which he Kd 68 in 53 IP, while allowing 30 hits. He posted a 1.53 ERA and 0.79 that year before hurting his arm at the beginning of ‘04.

Is he a closer? He doesn’t turn 27 until December, so he still has lots of time to find his role. There’s no doubt he could close games, but since we’ve never seen him used in that role it’s impossible to tell how he’d react. Don’t think that LaTroy Hawkins, Guillermo Mota, and Yhency Brazoban are isolated incidents. Some guys - especially 2-pitch RPs without a devastating strikeout pitch - are much better suited to an 8th inning role.

Personally, I’m scared of any closer who goes out there throwing 4-seamers anywhere short of 98 mph.