The Atlanta Braves have called up pitching prospect Mike Soroka to make his MLB debut Tuesday against the New York Mets. What should they expect?
The Atlanta Braves have not shied away from bringing up their top prospects this season and trusting young players with important roles on the team. Ozzie Albies was the starting second baseman on opening day. Ronald Acuna has been up now for just six days, but now will be joined by his teammate at AAA Gwinnett to open the season, right-handed pitcher Mike Soroka.
Who is Mike Soroka?
After losing Ervin Santana to the Minnesota Twins after the 2014 season, the Atlanta Braves received a compensatory pick, #28 overall in the 2015 draft, that they used on Canadian high school right-hander Mike Soroka.
Soroka has blown through the minor leagues with nary a scratch, posting a 2.85 ERA over his minor league career in 353 1/3 innings, with an impressive 4-to-1 strikeout to walk ratio. He’s yet to face a single batter who is younger than himself, and as the two youngest players in the major leagues also play for the Atlanta Braves, he’ll not be changing that fact in the near future.
How can he help the Atlanta Braves?
In the review I did on top right-handed pitching prospects in the game, I mentioned that Soroka works with two distinct fastballs, a change, and then he has utilized a soft and a hard curve over the last year, with the latter looking similar to a slider, so many reports consider it such.
What Soroka does so incredibly well for a guy who will not be 21 for another 3 months is set up hitters with his pitch sequencing, along with his incredible ability to alter his pitches by just a hair through altering his grips on his pitches.
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Soroka isn’t going to throw triple-digit velocity or have hitters’ knees buckling with a ridiculous breaking pitch, but it’s quite likely that in a single game, you will not see the same pitch thrown to the same location with the same exact break twice. That makes Soroka incredibly difficult to prepare for, which should give him an excellent leg up tonight against the Mets.
The Atlanta Braves are also quite confident in Mike Soroka’s ability to handle pressure and to handle innings loads, with his easy, repeatable delivery giving him excellent ability to sustain his velocity, movement, and location deep into games.
More than anything, it will be exciting for any baseball fan to watch tonight’s matchup just to enjoy the contrast in styles. Soroka will be opposed on the mound by the Mets’ ace, Noah Syndergaard, and his blazing fastball, with offspeed pitches that register as fast as many as Mike Soroka’s fastballs!
Atlanta Braves fans should enjoy the start tonight as Mike Soroka is a fun pitcher to watch. He may not light up the radar guns, but he will handle this promotion very well!