Joakim Soria as a Starter? - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Kansas City Royals closer Joakim Soria has been fantastic so far. I mean, ridiculously good. He's 8-for-8 in save situations, and has been damn near untouchable so far. In 13 innings of work, he's struck out 15 while allowing only one walk and three hits, all of which gives him an unbelievably low WHIP of 0.31.

He's even been garnering comparisons to a young Mariano Rivera already. Still, it's also gotten a lot of people in Kansas City wondering: what if the team moved Soria to the starting rotation? From Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star.

Soria is so good, so quick - and with seemingly no strain - that teammates and Royals officials can't help but wonder about someday moving him to the rotation. His use has become one of the perpetual talking points among Royals fans.

Royals manager Trey Hillman, not one who lacks confidence in his decisions, has even second-guessed himself when he hasn't used Soria.

The only problem the Royals have had with Soria is providing him with save chances - only eight in the first 33 games.

"I don't know if we've seen what he's capable of doing," says catcher John Buck. "Personally, I think he could be a really good starter. He has a lot of good other pitches that the league hasn't even seen. I've caught him in the bullpen. There's about three other pitches that nobody's ever seen, because he doesn't need 'em."

So would moving Soria to the starting rotation better serve the Royals? I don't know, but I do know that the Royals need more help in their starting rotation right now than they do the bullpen. I also know that Soria had always been a starter before joining the rotation, and certainly has the pitch selection necessary to start, but I'm not sure it would be the best move for the Royals right now.

Sure, closers are generally easier to find than good starters, but the dominant closers like Soria has been only come around so often. That being said, come the end of the season, if the Royals are out of contention it couldn't hurt to give Joakim a start or two just to see what he's capable of doing.