Michael Soroka excited to face Braves as division rival, return to Atlanta

Believe it or not, Soroka is 27 years old. It’s been seven seasons since he debuted with the Braves, then a highly regarded 20-year-old whose maturity and skill set had the organization continuously gushing.

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com

But unfathomably bad injury luck – primarily two Achilles tears – stripped Soroka of what seemed trending toward an incredible run. Soroka made only 43 starts for the Braves, but his 29 outings in 2019 showed what could’ve been: He was a 21-year-old All-Star, posting a 2.68 ERA with 142 strikeouts and 41 walks over 174-2/3 innings.

“When I think about what it feels like to be in (Single-A) Rome and (Double-A) Mississippi, that feels like a long time ago, but then being called up 2019 that doesn’t seem like very long ago at all,” Soroka said. “So I think those, those two, three years with COVID, the injuries – kind of just put my life in a blender for three years. And I forget that this is now six, seven years on a big-league roster. It seems a little bit surreal, but you start to realize how little time you have in this game and how important it is to do what you can every single day to be better. So I guess having that perspective is really good for me.”

The Braves non-tendered Soroka last winter. He signed with the White Sox, an opportunity for him to rejuvenate his career with no expectations. Unfortunately, it went poorly: Soroka went 0-10 with a 4.74 ERA across 25 appearances (just nine starts). Chicago lost a record 121 games.

But there was a silver lining. He had a 1.48 ERA over his final 11 appearances, including a 41:9 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He particularly impressed in three September outings, pitching 7-1/3 scoreless innings while allowing just two hits, striking out 13 and walking two. Soroka’s velocity was up. His breaking ball, he says, was the best it’s ever been. He revisited his past success and regained the “mental performance” that separated him earlier in his career.

“Realizing that helped give me my confidence back and allowed me to do what I did (late in the season), which led me to be excited about where I am now,” he said. “The words of somebody like Charlie Morton back when I first started going through those injuries was that ‘it is going to be OK, you’re going to be alright. It’s starting to kind of ring true.”

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

How encouraging was Soroka’s finish? The Nationals gave him a one-year, $9 million deal and declared he’d be part of their rotation. And they weren’t the only suitor. Soroka fielded plenty of interest from teams believing he can extend his newfound success over a larger sample size. He made it clear he wanted the chance to start.

“We had a really, really good meeting right off the bat,” Soroka said of his first conversation with the Nationals. “They had everybody on the meeting on the Zoom call right out of the gate. They were very obviously interested in the things that I had changed in my career, and felt that they were getting me at the front end of that. I think that’s always what I’ve said was hopefully those two, three missed years led to those years added to the back end of my career. So (pitching strategist) Sean Doolittle was great on the Zoom call as well, showing me the things that they were excited about, and it lined up with me.

“This is a young, exciting team, very similar to the way I think the Braves were in 2018, 2019. You had tons of big prospects coming up, just on the other side of it now. So it’s a really good atmosphere around here. Again, they’re interested in keeping the culture really, really, really good for these guys coming up and showing them what it’s like to be a professional.”

The Nationals are steadily improving, but they face an uphill climb in what might be baseball’s best division. The Braves, Phillies and Mets have World Series aspirations. Each carries a hefty payroll and a bevy of star power. Young teams sometimes emerge earlier than expected, but the National League East doesn’t seem ripe for a surprise contender.

FanGraphs projects the Nationals around 72 victories, well behind the Braves (93.6), Phillies (87.5) and Mets (86). Washington is given just a 3.1% chance at the postseason. But the buzz around the franchise isn’t about immediate results, but rather what this core could become in the coming seasons.

And Soroka hopes to be part of that. He hopes his career’s next phase offers better stability.

“I feel great right now, which is what really, really matters,” he said. “I’m excited to get going this year and have an organization that’s seen what I’d worked on the last few years and wanted to build on that and lean into the things that I do well now, as opposed to what I used to do back then. I think last year was very trying for a lot of people in the White Sox organization. There’s no sugar coating it. You lose 120-some games, makes for a pretty tough year, especially after being on a team (the Braves) that probably should have won 100 games for the last five years, right?

“So that was difficult, but glad I kept going with what I want to do for my career and got to a place where I was able to showcase that at the end of the year. The Nationals gave me a chance and I’m looking forward to proving them right.”

The Nationals face the Braves in Atlanta on May 12-15 and Sept. 22-24.