Ladies and Gentlemen, I’d like to introduce a new writer. Mr. Andrew Neville. Andrew is a rising senior at Northwestern University born and raised in Atlanta. He’s a huge baseball fan and is looking forward to adding his name to the great writers at Braves Journal.

In many ways, it feels like Michael Soroka is making his major league debut all over again. Following two achilles tears, three surgeries and a grueling rehab process that he has talked candidly about, the affable Canadian right hander is set to make his first start at the big league level in 1,029 days on Monday night against Oakland.

Along with being the ultimate feel good comeback story, Soroka can provide a big boost to this injury riddled Braves rotation. Given that he last pitched at the major league level almost three years ago, we thought it would be a good idea to take a look back at Soroka’s before he got injured and highlight some keys to his success as he looks to get his career back on track.

How did Soroka get to this point in his career?

The Braves drafted Soroka eight years ago with the 28th pick in the 2015 MLB draft after graduating from Bishop Carroll High School in Calgary. He immediately looked comfortable in his first full season in professional baseball, as he put up a 3.02 ERA in 26 starts in 2016 for high-A Rome. His smooth ascent through the minor leagues continued in 2017 as the Braves promoted him to double-A Mississippi and he produced a 2.75 ERA over 153.2 innings. This performance was strong enough to convince the Braves to keep moving him up the minor league ranks, and he began 2018 with triple-A Gwinnett.

After a stellar April with the Stripers in which he pitched his way to a 1.99 ERA over four starts, Alex Anthopolous decided it was time for Soroka to pitch in the show. In his major league debut on May 1 at Citi Field against the Mets, he out dueled Noah Syndergaard, picking up the win after throwing six innings of one run ball with five strikeouts. Sadly, shoulder problems cropped up for the hurler in late May which plagued him throughout the rest of 2018 and limited him to only five total starts in his first taste of big league action. Still, he was effective in this small sample size, pitching his way to a 3.51 ERA with a 1.44 WHIP in 25.2 innings.

None of this earlier success compared to what Soroka was able to do in 2019. In his first full season of big league action as a 21-year-old, he took the league by storm, producing a minuscule 1.07 ERA over his first eight starts through the end of May. He became the youngest Braves pitcher ever to make the All-Star team, which is an impressive achievement given the wealth of pitching talent that has passed through Atlanta over the franchise’s history. Overall, he finished 2019 as the runner up for National League Rookie of the Year and sixth in Cy Young voting after finishing with a 2.68 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP in 174.2 innings as one of the youngest starters in the league.

Heading into the Covid-shortened 2020 season, Soroka was the headliner of the Braves rotation. He earned the opening day starting nod, and in the process became the youngest opening day starter in team history. Unfortunately, in just his third start of the year, he tore the achilles while coming off the mound to field a ground ball on August 3 at Truist Park against the Mets, and he has not pitched on a big league mound since.

What made Soroka so effective, and how can he get back to that level of success?

At 6’5″ 225 pounds, Soroka is an imposing presence on the mound. Despite this powerful figure, he is not a power pitcher, only producing a strikeout rate of 19.6% through his 214 career big league innings so far. Instead of relying on the K, Soroka uses an tremendous sinker as his primary pitch in order to induce soft contact. According to Statcast, throughout his career before his injury, major league hitters hit ground balls on 52.8% of the time when they put the ball in play against Soroka. More specifically, against the sinker in his one full season of action in 2019, this ground ball percentage skyrockets to 63.7%.

In addition to the sinker, Soroka mixes in a slider, changeup, and four seam fastball. The slider is his primary offspeed pitch, as he threw it 24.2% of the time in 2019, the second highest percentage behind the sinker which he threw 44.7% of the time. This slider has potential to be a devastating putaway pitch for Soroka, as hitters batted only .154 against it in 2019, and whiffed on it 38.1% of the times they swung at it. He will keep hitters honest with the changeup and occasionally try to speed them up with a four seamer that can touch 95 miles an hour, but overall expect a heavy dose of sinkers and sliders.

More broadly, the key for Soroka to be effective is keeping the ball on the edges of the zone and not giving hitters free bases. He ranked in the top 15% of major league baseball in 2019 for both lowest barrel percentage and walk percentage. These numbers further demonstrate that when Soroka is on, hitters are unable to square up the ball against him and cannot bank on reaching first base without swinging the bat. Soroka is at his best when he is attacking the zone with the sinker early in the count and then keeping hitters off balance with the slider and occasional changeup, so look for him to try and do that Monday against Oakland.

When it comes to returning to the level of success he exhibited pre-injury, fans should be patient, but it is definitely possible. If there is one thing Soroka has showed throughout this entire rehab process, it is that he is resilient and he will never stop working. Therefore, even if success at the big league level is not immediate, Soroka will work tirelessly to get back to the level he was at in 2019. Furthermore, he is still only 25 years old, so he has a long career ahead of him if he can stay healthy and re-adjust to the major level. For now, though, Braves fans should just be appreciative of Soroka’s journey back and enjoy seeing him back on a big league mound where he belongs for the first time in almost three years.

Transaction a Day AA

It was obvious when he was recalled that Dereck Rodriguez was a placeholder and emergency pitcher should Spencer Strider flake out. He didn’t.

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