BREAKING: Michael Soroka being recalled from AAA Gwinnett for tonight's start against St. Louis

Ben Heller was sent back down in a corresponding move, but one has to ask how long Soroka will be up with the big league club

The Atlanta Braves have called up Michael Soroka for tonight's start against the St. Louis Cardinals, the team announced. 

The #Braves today recalled RHP Michael Soroka to Atlanta and optioned RHP Ben Heller to Triple-A Gwinnett. Additionally, INF Ehire Adrianza tonight begins a rehabilitation assignment with High-A Rome.

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) September 5, 2023

The corresponding move for Soroka's addition to the roster was sending reliever Ben Heller back to AAA Gwinnett. 

Soroka, 26, is 2-1 with a 5.56 ERA in his six games (five starts) for Atlanta this season. Suffering two catastrophic Achilles tears and undergoing three surgeries on it from 2020 through 2021, the Canadian righthander has been working his way back into the Rookie of the Year finalist form he showed in 2019, with mixed results.   

Soroka made his first MLB start since 2020 on May 29th, 2023, going six innings against Oakland with four runs allowed on five hits and two walks, striking out three. He made one more start before being sent back down to Gwinnett. 

He collected his first win in his first game back up, in late June, with a quality start against Miami. Soroka went six innings with three runs on six hits, walking none and striking out seven. He followed that up with a scoreless, but abbreviated, start against Cleveland where he gave up five hits and three walks in 4.2 innings, striking out four but being lifted after 99 pitches. 

It's not been all smooth sailing, though - Soroka's had three starts of four or more runs, as well as three starts where he didn't make it past the 5th inning, two of those ending in the 4th. 

Soroka's been in Gwinnett since late July, and there's a potential service time component here, as well. Coming into the season, Soroka was 50 days shy of five full years of service time, allowing him to become a free agent after 2024 (the same timeline as Max Fried and Charlie Morton). The date to watch for was September 13th - after that date, Soroka couldn't have accrued enough service time this season to earn that 5th year, delaying his free agency to the 2025 class. 

With Soroka being called up for this start, Atlanta's going to be forced to either send him back down after or run the risk of losing him a year earlier to free agency. 

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