Mike Soroka threw two innings in “simulated game conditions” this morning, reports David O’Brien of the Athletic. That marks a key milestone in the 23-year-old’s recovery from the ruptured Achilles that ended his 2020 season last August. It remains unclear precisely when Soroka will be ready to pitch this year, although O’Brien notes there has been “widespread speculation” of a late April or early May return. Soroka has a 2.86 ERA/4.33 SIERA over his first 214 big league innings.
The latest on some other health situations around the National League:
- Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas had been expected to throw a bullpen session today, but that’ll be pushed back to Wednesday, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Jeff Jones of the Belleville News-Democrat were among those to note. Manager Mike Shildt said the right-hander feels good but wouldn’t guarantee Mikolas will be ready for Opening Day. Mikolas missed the entire 2020 season after undergoing surgery to repair the flexor tendon in his forearm, but the current issue is a “creaky” shoulder, notes Zachary Silver of MLB.com.
- Dodgers reliever Joe Kelly looks unlikely to be ready for Opening Day, per Mike DiGiovanna of the Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). The right-hander has been dealing with shoulder soreness, but he has been able to throw a few bullpen sessions recently, per Juan Toribio of MLB.com. The hard-throwing Kelly spent a month on the injured list last season with shoulder inflammation.
- José Martínez has a “twisted left knee” after colliding with an umpire during today’s Spring Training contest, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com was among those to report. He’ll likely go for an MRI tomorrow. The Mets signed the 32-year-old Martínez this winter after he struggled through a down 2020 season split between the Rays and Cubs. A significant injury would be a blow to his chances of earning a backup first base/corner outfield role this spring.
Soroka’s return will be predicated by how well the rotation is going. No reason to rush him.
even if your starters fall off the cliff early i still wouldn’t rush him back achilles is a major injury with little history on how your going to recover after surgery. btw i’m basing this of the fact that pro athletes have to push there bodies to limits rest of us my never reach and just because i can get the surgery and go back to normal life in 6 months they can’t.
I wonder who the Braves 5th (and maybe 6th?) starter will be to pen the season. I’m betting Bryse Wilson gets the 5th starter spot. I think he’s earned it. If they go with 6 maybe Kyle Wright. He is Jekyll and Hyde though. His game stats remind me too much of Mike Foltynewicz. Wright is either good or absolutely terrible. There seems to be no in between. I never really have confidence in him either. I feel like it is a 50/50 chance Wright will be God-awful every single time he takes the mound. It makes it hard to believe he was at top 5 overall draft pick.
both wright and wilson were jekyll and hyde last season. they both got better near seasons end. wright had the one dissapointing game against the LAD in the NlCS and wilson obviously the exact oppo. Im more concerned with the 11mil AA decided to give smyly
The Smyly deal is just so odd considering it was based entirely off five starts last season, that it was before the market could take shape, and that by all accounts, the Braves are near their payroll limit.
My biggest complaint is that if you believe in him enough to give him $11 million when you did, surely you could’ve given yourself a team option on a second year. Something like a one-year, $7 million dollar deal with a $4 million buyout or $11 million team option. Would’ve still guaranteed him $11, but given the Braves a second year if he is what they apparently think he is.
Add on another 5 starts in September 2019. Still isn’t a lot but that’s 10 starts. He is coming off surgery so I would say he is back and probably pitching better than ever. Your point about his contract is well put.
Achilles is usually the end of the line. The player will never be the same. Adam Wainwright, Mark Mulder, Johan Santana, Gabe Kapler, Ryan Howard, Jim Edmunds, Allen Craig, Jason Grilli, Dellin Betances, Kevin Brown. They were never the same after the injury. Zach Britton is the only one I’ve heard of recovering.
hard to throw wanio in there when he had his achilles he was on the downhill of his career (i hate saying that because i love wanio he’s gamer) but you make a good point. ryan howard was never the same after blowing his out in 11’ nods trying to run out a hit with 2 outs in the 9th. even though we won the game always felt for howard imo he left his career behind that night trying to run out a play he had no chance on to try and stay alive.
Soroka tore his achilles on his push leg (right), while most others I looked up were on their plant leg. (Waino, Betences on their left, Britton his right). Not sure if that will make a difference. I would think the push leg would be more impactful which worries me for Soroka, but he is also much younger.
Putting Santana and Mulder on the list of pitchers who didn’t come back from an achilles tear is laughable. Santana had already blown out his shoulder the second time and was on a minor league deal with the Orioles when the achilles hit. In other words, his career was basically over. Mulder had stopped pitching in 2008 due to shoulder and arm issues and was trying to make a comeback in 2014. Seriously, six years later.
Kevin Brown tore his in 2005 and had a 2,65 ERA in 2006, and was an All-Star with a 2.38 ERA in 2008, not to mention he was 38. Then he broke his hand punching a wall and hit 40 years old. Blaming any downturn in the achilles is really a stretch given he had two tremendous years in the next three seasons. I would blame moving to the AL, moving out of one of the most pitcher friendly parks in baseball and age first, which led to a temper-tantrum that caused his broken hand and basically the end of his career.
I am not even going to compare hitters, because I just see the impact to playing ability as being significantly different.
Without the DH in the NL, Jose Martinez has no chance to last with the Mets. I would trust most players with both hands tied behind their back more than I’d trust Martinez in the field with a glove.
Cardinals need to push for other starters. Internal cause that’s all there is left. Who, who, who?
this point in the offseason who is really left that is clearly better than the kids we have, if you say say mike leake didn’t we try that and then shipped him out for a bag of fresh balls.
Nice! My go-to is the ‘bag of broken bats’.
it’s not the off season anymore
Rick Porcello. Coming off a couple of rough years, but he’s only 32, has experienced plenty of big-league success, and won’t cost a whole lot. Best of all, he is healthy. Some here mentioned him a few days ago in connection with the Cardinals. He would seem to be a good fit.
my poor joke at you was in the article about jeffiers and a commenter on the first 1st and a poster called you a grandpa and thought it was cute and wanted to take a friendly jab.
@cey i’m more inclined to give porcello a chance than leake, when the birds signed leak he was like 26~28 and was a disaster. i think the only reason we got anything “real” from that trade is because mo had an underling hack set. computers and got some emails about the former ceo’s love of translators and how to manipulate service time.
Rooting hard for a complete recovery by Soroka. Of all the pitchers in MLB, I enjoy watching him pitch the most.
grandpa cey great point bb is better when all of its stars young and old are healthy.
(note the grandpa comment is a joke i saw on a another thread and just taking a jab in good fun)
Gem of a p[itcher. In my view, this is the best era for young stars in my baseball lifetime. I get a kick out of people who knock modern players. When I was a kid, half the players couldn’t hit the ball out of the infield. Pitching was easier than it is today.
Not aware of the joke.
Soroka means to the Braves as Scottie did the bulls in terms of going the full distance.
Mikolas is on a collision course with some degree of major surgery at this point
He just had major surgery.
well another one
i as much as i wanna say dark your a bloody moron and you don’t what your talking about. i’m having the same feelings mikolas might be done for the year. coming back from a major setback having a full season to recover and your still not “right” is very concerning
yeah i did forget that he had the flexor surgery last year, though its kinda the same.net sum here. missed the year and is still having issues. sure maybe he’ll just be slow to ramp back up, but this is yet another setback.
still concerning to me personally (i wasn’t fully counting on him but that’s because of pitchers before him and the same story lines) but th fo was and i have faith in our kids. after mikolas only established pitchers we have are waino flatery and cmart really pees on your parade. before fellow cards fans rail me i love jack and wanio but jack is mostly upside with a lot to prove still wanio’s best years are behind him. yes would i love wanio go out and have a cey young season but i’m being realistic at this point with wanio he is a 3~5 guy at best. cmart i’m done with has all the talent to be great but can’t get out of his own way and take his craft seriously. i mean come how is a mlb player especially one of his caliber and pay going to a s-club that the working class goes to and get into a fight because some drunken fan calls you out. now that capt. hindsight has appeared maybe cards giving odo 3 years might have not been such a bad ideal as i 1st thought
Mr. Cummings, is that you?
Sign Cashner can start or relief
Braves fans. Dillon Betances had Achilles too and he could barley throw 96. If Soroka losses 2-3 mph he won’t be a 1-2 pitcher. (I would say solid 3-4. I hope he comes back strong and what I’m talking about is nonsense but I’d be nervous.
Those aren’t apt comparisons though. Betances relied on velocity to get outs. He consistently worked in the 97-100 MPH range with the Yankees which made up for his so-so command. Soroka relies on his control/command and deception more than anything else. His sinker and four seamer average out in the 90-92 MPH range.
that even still assumes he’ll be effected the same by the injury which isnt a given. for example, some guys do better after TJS, some are never the same again.
That’s TJ. I don’t think anyone has ever come back stronger from a torn Achilles’ tendon.
It might hurt someone like Betances more, but losing 2-3 mph on your pitches is gonna hurt most pitchers Hopefully he doesn’t have that issue, or is able to evolve as a pitcher to offset the velo loss, but I don’t think you can just discount it
Dellin, not Dillon. Zach Britton also ruptured his Achilles and was fine afterward. It figures you would bring up one guy who didn’t. Soroka and the Braves will be both be fine. They are the best bet to make the NL playoffs after the Dodgers.
The Mets disappear????
The Mets will be one of five teams vying for the second wildcard.
@metsfan22 until the mets are 4or 5 games up on the rest of the nle hard to say your best in the division. yes i’ll admit the mets have improved but so has the rest of the east. when it comes to atl last 3 years at least they have won the nle and would be in back to back nlcs if the braves didn’t beat the braves in 19. (look love the cards but atl beat themselves than we beat them and wash. proved that in the nlcs by sweeping us). mets, cards, mil, cws, cle, tor and sd to an extent min, chc, nyy too but min and chc are current champs of there division and the rest of the division hasn’t prove to be overwhelming favorites so can’t count them and nyy can never count them out if there close and feel like they got a legitimate winner there going for it. all the mets have is a team to look forward to just like the teams i mentioned. tbh and i hate saying this lad is the team to beat and other than atl, and maybe tb and nyy. now i’m not crowning lad as 2021 champs but let’s be honest how everything is set right now is there a team in the mlb better than the dodgers.
LOL
I get it. I understand if your picking the Braves. But to many people here like him keep saying the Braves are a lock. I can’t take that seriously. Braves fans should be very worried about the Mets. I’d say it’s 50/50 just based on this years roster.
also wanio blew his out being on the wrong side of 30 and came back yes maybe not the same player but wanio was trending down before the injury but came back to be effective.
Wainwright was not trending down before the Achilles injury…he was in the midst of winning a Cy Young…the injury really hurt him…he is actually pitching the best right now since the injury
as much as i hate to say it because i huge wanio fan and i really hope he pulls a carp and saws his arm off on the mound and gets another ring. wanio has been trending down hill for a while not saying he still can’t be effective just sometimes as cards fans when we see one of our greats start to decline we just don’t want to admit it. also if my memory serves me right wanio’s injury was in his 6~8th start hard to say he was going to be a cy winner (though he was projecting that way and when he got hurt my grave tv found it’s way to the landfill with a bud bottle in the screen)
Wainwright finished 2nd for the Cy young in 2013…3rd in the Cy Young in 2014 and he was looking like the Cy Young winner in 2015 before the Achilles injury…not to mention he was robbed the Cy Young from Tim Lincecum when he had 20 wins…He was looking great but then went down with that Achilles injury…might have been a true reason why he won’t get into the HOF
You said before the injury he was tending down…no he wasn’t…he was actually trending upwards
can’t say tim robbed wanio of a cy tim did have the same year following his first cy. what hurt wanio that year was the writer voting #1 on atl pitcher who everyone else gave 3rd place there highest vote. also i will admit i might be wrong on wanio trending downhill after his achilles. might be confusing 2012 when he came back from tjs and was up and down all year. either way i’ll happily eat crow with honey mustard if wanio can prove me wrong and go out with a cy and maybe another ring.
didn’t wainwright have his injury in his first or second start that year? how was he well on his way to a cy young award?
wainwright was 2-1 in 2015. wasn’t even close to being’well on his way’ to a cy young award
I finally know who runs the MLBTR Twitter account!!!
It’s Mark Polishuk!!!
How do I know this useless information, you May ask? Well MLBTR actually replied to Marc Luino and said that his takes were bad because his name is spelled with a C. I solved the puzzle.
The play that Martinez was injured on was bizarre. I can’t remember any other player being injured from running into an umpire, but I would guess it has happened before? Does anyone remember another player getting injured in a collision with an umpire?
I just watched the replay & it looked like he tweaked his knee before he stumbled into the umpire
It seemed like the umpire was trying to prevent him from falling after he injured himself. If he injured it as a result of the ump being there, that’s not good.
Yeah that’s how it looked to me too. Regardless, the ump did a bad job of getting out of the way