Braves Place Mike Soroka On 10-Day DL, Recall Max Fried

The Braves have placed young righty Mike Soroka on the 10-day DL with a right shoulder strain, per a club announcement. The placement is retroactive to May 14th. His scheduled start tonight will instead be taken by Max Fried, who has been recalled.

That’s not the news the Braves were hoping for with a prized young hurler, though perhaps the team is just exercising precaution. MLB.com’s Mark Bowman tweets that the club believes he could be able to return in time to make his next scheduled start, which would presumably mean coming off of the DL after the minimum absence.

Soroka, one of the Atlanta roster’s slate of fascinating twenty-year-old talents, has impressed through three MLB starts. He carries a 3.68 ERA in 14 2/3 innings, with underlying peripherals (9.2 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, 42.9% groundball rate) that suggest he’s more than ready for the majors. Though it was not certain when he came up whether he’d stick, it now seems reasonable to anticipate he’ll be in the majors to stay so long as he remains healthy.

For the time being, though, it’ll be Fried who gets the chance. The 24-year-old has made four relief appearances on the year in the majors but also took three starts at Triple-A. At his best, Fried can generate grounders and strikeouts in much the same manner Soroka has, though the southpaw has long handed out too many free passes and is not considered as promising as the man he’ll substitute for.