Soroka could carry on the Braves tradition of great pitchers

Bill Shanks talks about the pitcher who could carry on a great tradition of strong starting pitching - Mike Soroka

He's young. He got to the big leagues at a young age. He's been very good so far.

That is usually the formula for a pitcher to have a great career, and it's been the script so far for Braves young pitcher Mike Soroka.

Still only 22 years old, Soroka has made 34 big league starts. He's 15-5 overall with a 2.79 earned run average. Soroka has allowed 183 hits in 200.1 innings, with 52 earned runs allowed, 48 walks and 163 strikeouts.

The pause on the baseball season has also paused Soroka's career, which is awful that players would be impacted like that. 

How good can this kid be? Well, listen to how he talks. He's different. Not all 22-year-olds speak like him. He's got an intellect about the game that is incomparable for a young man his age.

The Braves wanted one of their drafted or traded for young pitchers to be the ace of the future staff. Soroka has already shown he can fill that role.

When the season resumes, the Braves will know Soroka leads the rotation. With the outcry of anger at the fact Soroka started only one playoff game last year, we can probably assume that as long as he continues his solid work, Soroka will be the go-to guy in any playoff series moving forward.

Listen to The Bill Shanks Show weekdays at 3:00 p.m. ET on Middle Georgia’s ESPN. You can listen online at TheSuperStations.com. Follow Bill on Twitter at @billshanks and you can email him at thebillshanksshow@yahoo.com.