What to expect from Michael Soroka in the major leagues tonight against Oakland
FINALLY.
He's back.
The Atlanta Braves made the roster move official, recalling Michael Soroka from Gwinnett to start tonight's game against Oakland.
It's been an incredibly long road, one that we chronicled yesterday when news of this first broke.
Timeline of Michael Soroka's injuries
Soroka first tore the Achilles in August of 2020, attempting to field a ground ball versus the Mets. He had an exploratory surgery in May of 2021 to identify the source of discomfort around the surgically repaired Achilles - it was sutures, that his body rejected. The Achilles was graded as sound and recovery could continue, with Soroka going back into a walking boot.
It was not sound. The first day without the boot, in June 2021, Soroka was walking into the Braves clubhouse when the Achilles ruptured again. He had surgery, this time using a different suture method, and restarted the rehab process.
In August of 2022, he was on a rehab stint with AAA Gwinnett, having made five starts, when he began to feel soreness in his shoulder. The Braves shut him down for the rest of the season.
As he was preparing to begin spring training, literally the day before pitchers and catchers were due to report in February, he started dealing with hamstring tightness and ultimately wasn't able to debut in Grapefruit League action until the midpoint of the spring training calendar, and was reassigned to Gwinnett soon after.
What to expect from Michael Soroka against the Oakland Athletics
It's important to remember that Soroka is not a "big velocity" guy, and he's not a massive strikeout guy. As a sinker/slider guy, Soroka's whole deal is limiting hard contact. In his 2019 season, where he finished as an All-Star, was 2nd in NL Rookie of the Year voting, and was the 6th place finisher for Cy Young, he struck out 142 batters in 174.2 innings (7.3 K/9). He did lead all of baseball in least HRs allowed, with only 0.7 HR/9.
This season in AAA Gwinnett, he's struck out 23% of batters while getting 46% groundballs, which is the name of his game. The sinker has averaged 91.2 mph, with sixteen inches of horizontal break towards the armside. The slider sits at 81 mph, with 45 inches of vertical break and just enough horizontal movement, four inches, to avoid a barrel if you read it correctly. To keep hitters honest, his four-seam fastball sits at 92.5 and features eighteen inches of induced vertical break, keeping it up in the zone and avoiding those uppercut swings.
The more pitches he can leave down in the zone, the better he'll do.
Expect the Braves to be cautious with him - the goal is for Soroka to stay in MLB now that he's here, so don't be surprised if he has to get pulled early once or twice.
But the fact he made it back at all is to be celebrated.
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