Braves right-hander Mike Soroka recently felt discomfort in his right Achilles and will have to undergo exploratory surgery, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports.
While it’s unknown how long this procedure will shelve Soroka, it’s yet another brutal injury blow to one of baseball’s most promising young hurlers. Soroka impressed during his first major league action in 2018 and was even better in 2019, when he logged a 2.68 ERA over 174 2/3 innings and earned an All-Star nod. Unfortunately, the 23-year-old has barely taken the mound since then.
Just three starts into the 2020 campaign, Soroka tore his Achilles and had to undergo season-ending surgery. Soroka wasn’t ready for the start of this season as a result, though the hope was he would make his 2021 debut sometime in mid-April. However, Soroka’s shoulder began to act up that month, and he has been slow in recovering from that issue. Still, indications before Wednesday were that Soroka would return in June; now, though, it looks as if this latest setback could prevent that from happening.
The Braves fared quite well without Soroka during a division-winning 2020 in which they advanced to the NLCS, but they haven’t carried that success over to this season so far. They’re just 17-18 and three games out of the NL East lead, thanks in part to a Soroka-less starting staff that owns the league’s eighth-highest ERA and sits fourth from the bottom in fWAR. Ian Anderson and Huascar Ynoa have done well to keep runs off the board across a combined 14 starts, though 2020 star Max Fried, Charlie Morton, Drew Smyly and Bryse Wilson have struggled in that regard.
woah
remember when most of us were clamoring for Trevor Bauer, plus resigning Melancon, Greene and O’Day?!…ahh good times, ignorance is bliss
Ignorance is the uniform you wear
Bauer leads the NL in Ks, 2nd in IP & has a 2.50 ERA
I’m sure the Braves are super happy they didn’t land him..
And always at the top in pitch counts, extrapolating all those extra pitches is another 450 chances per season he blows an elbow out…
Man, I’m really starting to think Soroka would be better off if the Braves just let him take the year off and stop trying to even practice. At least that way he can focus on next season and you know if he gets re-injured it won’t be due to him pushing too hard to get into game form. I’m okay with him working out and staying in shape but it seems like he shouldn’t be taking a mound or trying to pitch or run in any competitive way. He had a shoulder injury and missed time early in his career. Then the achilles injury happened. Since that 1st achilles injury he has re-injured his shoulder and now re-injured his achilles without even taking the field. I’m worried he’s gonna be one of those guys constantly hurt with weird injuries. Not many pitchers come back from an achilles injury like he had. Adam Wainwright did but to be honest immediately after that surgery Wainwright was never the same pitcher. He was still very serviceable and above average but it was obvious he was never going to contend for a Cy Young again. I think the Marlins offered Realmuto to the Braves for a trade package centered around Soroka. That was after he had only sustained his 1st shoulder injury. I remember thinking, “Maybe the Braves should do this. Shoulder injuries are bad and maybe Soroka will be one of those pitchers that can’t stay healthy.” Another shoulder injury and multiple achilles injuries later it seems like I might have been right. The Braves could have done that and extended Realmuto (on what seems like a reasonable contract he eventually signed with Philly) while also saving the $16 million they have spent on the also currently injured Travis d’Arnaud. Soroka is great when he’s on but these injuries are scary. On top of that it’s not like these are the kind of injuries that can be fixed with the common Tommy John surgery. What do you guys think? From here on out who would you rather have on your team? Mike Soroka and Travis d’Arnaud or JT Realmuto?
hard to to say wanio’s decline was all because of his achilles, when that happened he was close to his mid 30’s, soroka young enough he can bounce back. still not good he is having his achilles looked at again, i wonder if he pushed himself to hard in the offseason to get back and never let it fully heal.
@Brit he’s 22 he’ll be fine. He’s not a power pitcher anyone who takes the time off he did throwing would have a grouchy shoulder. As for the Achilles plenty of other pitchers then waino have successful come backs.
Waino knew his delivery & stuff and more importantly what it took to get ML hitters out, and adjusted once his body stopped inhibiting his ability to execute pitches.
Its fair to say a 23 yr old doesnt have that knowledge quite yet. Sorka should just take as much time as it takes to heal, its his career on the line..
I was thinking maybe they should re attach his ballz
More like Mike Sore-oka.
Soroka is an old school pitcher, hope he recovers
Mets about to pull away. Prayers out for Soroka
Exploratory surgery seems like an odd concept these days with CAT Scans and MRI’s.
It is actually just normal surgery except the doctor dresses up like Indian Jones.
Not to be confused with arthroscopic surgery, where the doctor dresses up like a scorpion.
So close.
I know it is just a typo, but I think Indian Jones could be a nice diversity reboot of the character. Get a Bollywood guy as the star and cast a white kid as Short Round and go from there.
Often “exploratory surgery” is the term used when they go in and clean up what they can get at vis a vis loose bodies, and see better what is going on because the images are obscured and/or there’s poor definition due to how someone’s unique body is constructed.
We all have more or less the same parts in more or less the same places, but, sometimes structures can be packed tighter together or overlap each other to where you don’t see. Could also be scar tissue in there messing with things.
I know there’s some spots in MRIs that I’ve had where readings were inconclusive or diagnoses used words like ‘possible’
tough break atl hope it’s nothing serious and he gets things cleaned up and he’s back out on the mound by the a.s. break. still going under the knife for any reason is not good
Thank you for this, an actual on-topic, well written, and logicak comment!!
That doesn’t happen here often, but love to learn new things, so thank you again!!
thanks bro i try plus when soroka is healthy and dealing he is fun watch really hope he gets back soon.
Ugh 🙁
Soroka has the most interesting assortment of pitches that I’ve seen in the game today, and he commands them all.
Terrible news. U never like to see this. I say put him on the shelf for the entire year and just trust the rest of the guys! LET WILSON PITCH!!!! Stop mismanaging him!!! I mean heck! Smyly is terrible, let him be your long reliever or get creative to find Wilson more opportunities! He’s got the stuff to be a solid mlb pitcher, now let him figure it out and let us fans know what he’s actually got! Stop the up and down to the minors bull and pitching him in short rest! Let’s gooooo!!!
Agree. Wilson needs to get more starts. He is still raw and he is still very young. But we have seen enough to know that Wilson has the potential to be a solid member of the rotation. I think he is a #3 or #4.
Another comment about Wilson. When he first came up to the bigs, like 4 years ago as one of the 10 youngest players in MLB (not kidding), he mainly threw a FB and slider with good command of both.
Turns out that his FB/slider/command was good enough to get minor league hitters out at all levels (hence his fast rise to the majors) but not good enough to get ML hitters out consistently. Wilson’s FB peaks at about 95, averaging ~94. His slider doesn’t break a lot but it does consistently break horizontally (vertical break is better like the slider Ynoa throws).
I’ve noted recently that he has added more pitches and throws the slider less often. I looked up his player card on Brooks Baseball to see what he throws. He now throws a sinker and changeup, mixing in a rare curve.
To be successful, Wilson has to throw more than a FB and slider. His FB is avg. I think his slider is slightly below avg for the majors (not minors). He can still throw those pitches and he does but he needs to keep hitters guessing more with additional pitches. As he gets more comfortable with the sinker/change and controls them well, I think he could peak at a #3 in rotation.
Can we please just get one World Series title out of all this talent we keep developing? We’ll always have 1995 but it’s becoming more and more ancient each year. We need a championship for this generation.
Not good for the Braves.
Post of the season !
Well, the only good news of this is that I was able to Mute Metsfan22.
Brutal.. Helluva of a good young pitcher…Hope he still makes it back in 2021..
Terrible news for Braves fans as well as all fans of the game. With major injurys to pitching staffs everyday I really don’t know how anyone could predict a team’s chances for playoff contention. Pitching depth has never been so important than today.
The genius AA, is out scouring the world for pitching help. Lots of dumpsters to yet check out.
Ryan Dumpster, I mean, Dempster retired. Maybe AA can coax him out of retirement.
Incredible a spike getting stuck in the mound could derail his entire career
This is why I hate when people always say that there’s always next year. You never know with injuries and free agents. This team needs to win it all as soon as possible. If they don’t win at least one championship then this whole rebuild cannot be considered a success.
(response to 48team)
uh, did you just compare the Braves to the Tigers, Rockies and Pirates? I don’t think we can take you seriously. And the Braves really aren’t under performing. Their starting pitching is bad and needs to turn it around big time or they are nowhere near what anyone, other than BA projections, thought they were. More similar to the Phillies than Mets as both teams relay on out hitting you night in and night out. While yes, the Mets could have been better by a bit, sitting at 18-13 with excellent pitching and lighter than expected hitting puts them in a bit better early shape than the Braves, no? Long season and I expect the Braves and Mets to battle it out once the weather warms up with the Phillies and Nats harassing everyone and the Marlins bats proving they are in desperate need pf spending money (was at the Marlins-Dbacks game last night – that line up is putrid)
Someone had stated that “no one is getting buried in May” but the comment seems to be gone now. Obviously the Braves are far better than those teams.
“ And the Braves really aren’t under performing.”
Their offense has been underperforming, although parts of it are starting to heat up.
The season was finished anyway. It was a lost season since day 1 as I said. Hopefully AA is fired
You’re fired.
I’m not the type to mute people, but if a radio station (remember those?) played the same song over and over, I’d change to a different station. You’re tempting me.
truth hurts, huh? I know it does.
Losing comes with turn over so its not all bad.
I really hope Bobby Cox jr( snitker is fired) clean everything Bobby Cox related out of that organization
It just looks so bad that this organization only has one championship (in Atlanta) after all these years. Forget dynasties. Even if they had won three titles all 10-15 years apart each time it would look so much better.
why would you want to fire aa he took an organization that was in disarray and had 13 high celling players removed, and multiple draft picks taken away during there rebuild. aa has since made alt a watchable winning team, it’s not his fault that alt players fold in oct (braves beat themselves in 19 not the cards). also as fans we often forget that gm’s/pbo’s have bosses and set limits on what they can spend on players. yes aa could do a little better but who out there looking for a job is going to better than aa?
Most of the Talent was already there when AA got there, don’t give him too much credit. I would agree that firing him is premature for sure, as you mention he has a budget he has to work within.
lol wasn’t trying to give him a lot of credit just came off that way but i do remember when he took over alt was kinda hot mess with the whole draft bonus thing. i was just trying to say man has done a great job righting a sinking ship. imo alt playoff woes is mental they more often beat themselves than there opponents, tbh i think aa needs to get some bench guys that have played on ws teams that help them get over that hump. like when chc went out and got lester or zobrist and motte.
After that first loss, the season was over for sure.
Elite talent, can’t stay healthy. Here is to hoping his career gets back on track.
So long as Snitker keeps putting Jacob Webb and Luke Jackson into tied or close games the Braves will never put together a decent run. Never seen a team want to lose so bad.
Hopefully Chris Martin and Shane Greene will start making those appearances instead.
Agreed. Can’t wait till we have those options available
Martin is supposed to be back tonight but Greene has to have a “Spring Training” at AAA before he’s activated.
1-1 game guess who is warming up? Luke Jackson….
And Luke Jackson blows the lead again. Why can’t anyone call Snitker out on this BS
So bad. It’s an absolute joke at this point.
Jacob Webb needs to be called out too for his failure to cover home and first the last 2 appearances he made. Luke Jackson on the other hand must have some dirt on AA for him to remain a part of the braves bullpen.
All I can think of is that Luke Jackson is apparently the funniest guy in the clubhouse. You’d have to be one hell of a comedian to convince your teammates that constantly blowing games is funny. Keep in mind he was the first reliever to get issued a contract by the Braves following his nearly 7.00 era showing last year. Dude is garbage
I’ll be one of the first to want Jackson out but he is not the problem. People are pointing fingers at him, yet Minter is just as bad as him. The bullpen is general is bad.
I agree. Luke has his problems, but Minter can’t hold leads at all and is only hurting this team. Minter gave up the lead today and Will Smith just can’t pitch if it’s not a save situation. Braves just got swept by the jays twice in less than 2 weeks. Only bright spot, is Chris Martin was his usual lights out self today.
Acuna and Pache both left today’s game with injuries.
That name has always reminded me of Mike Sirotka. Let’s hope his career doesn’t look like it too.
If this costs him this season and any time next year, he’s officially injury prone. Hate it for him in particular because the scouting reports on him coming up always marveled at how well he knows and takes care of his body as far as workouts and nutrition.
2016 | “Wise beyond his years, he takes things like nutrition and conditioning seriously.”
Also a reminder of the other end of the early-career extensions. Fortunately, Soroka still won’t be arbitration eligible, thus avoiding a tough decision for at least another year.
The Braves did not improve their roster this year . On the contrary it is lacking depth, of course signing Morton was a good move, Smyly, the jury is still out. But then you have the loss of O’Day, Melancon, Greene unsigned for over a month, Martin injured, the bullpen is lacking the depth of 2020, and the Braves are also missing a reliable bat like Markakis, or someone with some power like Duvall. Pache needs more time at AAA based on his season so far.
Reliable bat like Markakis? His OPS+ numbers the last two seasons were 96 and 82. He was reliable at being a below average hitter with no power. Sure he used to be good, but he added no value to the team last year.
Still better than what Pache will ever do in his career.
Exploratory implies they aren’t sure what they’re looking for. That, in itself, is scary
Hope he can recover. Achilles injuries seem to be tough to recover from
It could also be for something like I just was diagnosed with – a broken bone spur on the heal. It is killing my Achilles and they are going to have to open mine up eventually.
Man, I really like their chances IF they make it to the playoffs. But getting there may be the hardest part. Jethro Tull’s alter-ego showed he has ice water in his veins. But over the course if 162 they need much greater depth and right now I don’t know if they have it. It’s very young depth at this point. They may need to be buyers at the deadline unless they’re completely out of it cuz if they get there I like their chances.
Oh just an exploratory procedure on his Achilles, I thought it was something serious like a bruised pinky finger on his non-throwing hand. Even worse would have been some lower body soreness that’s brutal.
The only good news after today is that we don’t have to play the Blue Jays again for the rest of this year unless we meet in the World Series. I’ve never seen us play so horribly against one team…especially when we’re supposed to be a legitimate contender.
Blue Jays definitely made the Braves look bad. No wonder the Braves hid Smyly from them. Hopefully things turn around quickly for the Braves. This is getting old.
Agreed. We had been 5-1 in our last six games, which could get us on track, but there’s nothing great about 5-4 over nine games. Even just one win in this series would have made a huge difference.
Hope he will rehab alright.
Is there an update on Soroka?
yeah, I’m wondering if there is any hope to see him even start a rehab by July 4.