The Braves announced this afternoon that righty Mike Soroka has been activated from the 60-day injured list. He’s been optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett. To open a spot on the 40-man roster, Atlanta transferred reliever Darren O’Day from the 15-day to the 60-day IL.
Soroka hasn’t thrown a major league pitch since August 2020. He ruptured his right Achilles tendon while trying to get off the mound to cover first base, a devastating injury that has kicked off multiple years of rehab. His efforts to return last season were cut short in June when Soroka suffered another Achilles tear while walking to the team’s clubhouse. He underwent a second surgery and has been trying to work his way back. He suffered an unrelated setback this July when he took a comebacker off the knee while throwing live batting practice, leading to another shutdown.
Six weeks later, Soroka made it back to a professional mound. He kicked off a rehab assignment with High-A Rome on August 16, and he’s since made two appearances with Gwinnett. He worked 4 2/3 innings and threw 75 pitches during his outing last Saturday. That’ll technically be his final rehab start now that he’s back on the 40-man roster, but the club will give him a bit more time with the Stripers to find his form. With five weeks left in the regular season, it seems likely we’ll see Soroka back on the Truist Park mound this month. How he pitches could well determine whether the club carries him on their postseason roster.
Despite having missed two seasons, Soroka just recently turned 25 years old. Before the Achilles tears, he looked like one of the better young arms in the sport. The former first-rounder pitched to a 2.68 ERA with a very strong 51.2% ground-ball rate over 174 2/3 innings in 2019, his age-21 season. He and the team agreed to a $2.8MM salary to avoid arbitration during Spring Training. He’ll be in line for a similar amount this winter and is controllable through 2024.
O’Day has been out since the All-Star Break after straining his left calf. Signed to a minor league deal over the offseason, the veteran submariner made the Opening Day roster. O’Day has been an excellent, if unconventional, late-game reliever for much of the past decade. The 2022 season had been more pedestrian even before the injury, however. Through 21 2/3 innings, the 39-year-old owns a 4.15 ERA with a strong 27.7% strikeout percentage but a career-high 10.6% walk rate.
Today’s IL transfer shouldn’t have much of an effect on O’Day, who still looks likely to factor into the bullpen mix for manager Brian Snitker late in the season. The 60-day minimal stint backdates to his original placement on July 12, so he’ll be eligible to return to the big league club next weekend. O’Day has been on a rehab assignment with Gwinnett, working seven innings over as many appearances.
Soroka and O’Day aren’t the only injured players who are planning to make it back from long-term absences this month. Ozzie Albies has been out of action since fracturing his left foot on June 13, but he’s closing in on a return. Albies began a rehab assignment in Gwinnett tonight, taking four at-bats while serving as the designated hitter. It was his first game action since the injury, and it opens the 20-day window allotted to position players for rehab stints. Barring a setback, he should be back in Atlanta by the middle of September.
Since Albies went down, the Braves have used a revolving door at second base. Orlando Arcia, Phil Gosselin and Ehire Adrianza have each gotten some work, but the job has finally fallen on rookie Vaughn Grissom. A highly-regarded prospect, Grissom is off to a .312/.354/.468 start through his first 21 MLB games. Those numbers have been propped up by a .344 batting average on balls in play, but the 21-year-old has also already connected on three home runs and has only gone down on strikes 13 times (15.9% of his plate appearances).
How the Braves will divvy up playing time when everyone’s healthy remains to be seen. That’s an enviable problem to have, of course, with an infield of Matt Olson, Albies, Dansby Swanson and Austin Riley arguably the best in baseball. If the Braves want to keep Grissom’s bat in the lineup, the cleanest path to playing time could be at designated hitter, although that’d present its own complications.
The Braves have rotated hot-hitting backup catcher William Contreras through the DH spot, and they’ve occasionally used those at-bats to get Ronald Acuña Jr. off his feet. Acuña, who tore the ACL in his right knee last July, told reporters last night the surgically-repaired joint feels “terrible” (via Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Acuña has remained in the lineup and maintained that he’ll play through the pain for the rest of the season, but the Braves may want to continue easing his workload on defense before postseason play gets underway.
If Soroka can get back to form for the post season the Braves got another WS in the bag so long as everyone that matters stays healthy. Also Mets gonna lose the division.
Mets’ schedule is a breeze, though…
3 game series in Atlanta the second to last series of the season. That will more than likely decide the division winner.
The Mets don’t want the 3 game series to mean anything in Atlanta in late September. After the way the Mets and media have called the Braves dead many times the pressure would be huge in the Mets not to blow. In addition Braves would have a full healthy team by than
The Mets are basically the Giants of last season – they will burn out the team prior to the postseason because they are more desperate to win the division.
It seems like everyone wants to hand the Mets the division this season. The Dodgers just pulled a Philly and gifted the Mets a win today. I still expect the to fall at some point, but it seems luck is way too strong with them this season
and know Met fans get offended when people say they are lucky. Relax. The Braves got lucky last season with Smith not blowing games, and of course Rosario and Soler playing very well. Without them, the Braves were going to lose again to the Dodgers in the CS. As they say, sometimes it is better to be lucky than good. The Mets are the definition of that.
The Mets have been lucky, but good teams take advantage when they get a good break and minimize loses when they get bad ones.
Saying they’ve been lucky is not an insult.
We all know they’ve also had their fair share of bad luck too.
They are a good team, but until they prove they can defeat their biggest foe, themselves, I won’t bet on them
100% agree, that good teams take advantage of the mistakes.
However, the point is, they can’t depend on luck in the playoffs. Granted, we may see more gifted runs for their average offense. Hopefully, no one suddenly plays bad against them. Even SNY broadcast acknowledged these gifted runs and how the Mets have been the beneficiary of it.
Winning records vs Dodgers, Braves, Cardinals, Phillies, and everyone else in NL besides Padres.Saying the Mets are lucky over and over is just plain dumb. They only did that with the best pitcher in the game out for most of the season.
Well lets see,
1. If Lux played competent baseball, the Dodgers would have won today’s game and the Dodgers would have won the season series (not that is matters).
2. The Mets played the Cards in the beginning of the season when they didn’t play well. I still remember like it was yesterday, Arenado made a bad play at 3rd and the Mets won one of the games because of this error.
3. They dominated the Phils and a good portion of those wins were gifted. They outplayed them regardless, but 15 wins is obnoxious and you know it too.
4. That one game that the Mets won 9-7 against the Braves, the difference in that game was a bunch of errors by the Braves (albeit the Braves bullpen didn’t do themselves favors either)
It is only fitting for the Mets do go on a bad stretch doing a period where every idiot thinks their schedule automatically means they will win the division.
How many games have the Braves won this year in the same scenario? It’s called baseball and it’s part of the game. Now the Mets have the easy schedule the Braves had to get back in the race. You said they would split with the Rockies and get swept by the Dodgers. In that span the Braves lost ground in the division.
Well, the Braves sure don’t have 15 wins against the Phillies this season, which as I stated before, is the difference between the two teams right now,
And I never said any of that, but I won’t deny I expect them to go on a bad stretch at some point in Sept. Whether it means the Braves catch them is a different story. The Braves haven’t been as fortunate with their closer not blowing games this season.
Your stupid!
The irony of not knowing it’s “you’re stupid,” not “your” lol…
The problem with the Mets is post season they don’t have the huge home run bats so if they are behind hard to come back.
Other thing is Diaz can’t remain perfect all season and post season long just the odds say impossible.
LOL
I’ll say this much, in the double header which Scherzer pitched the night game, Snitker for whatever reason sacrificed the day game. None of our high leverage relievers were called upon. We would go on to lose the night game because Scherzer be Scherzer. Not saying the Mets are lucky but Snitker definitely was responsible for at least one loss
We can do this for every team. Both the Braves and the Mets are good my guy.
*You’re
Hot take, the dodgers don’t wanna face the Mets in a DS where more can happen so they threw the B Squad out there to face the Mets to try to open up their division lead.
If your betting on attrition for diaz, two of his three outs last night would’ve been gone in LA.
No, the difference is the Mets are a better team than the Braves. They are winning the old-fashioned way: strong starting pitching, timely hitting, strong fundies, platooning, a bit of speed, good defense and capitalizing on other team’s mistakes.
The Braves have been beating up on the bottom feeders but steuggled against .500 or better teams. I believe the Mets win NL East by 3-5 games and will have already wrapped up the division by the time of their series with Braves.
To say the Mets are not good and just lucky just shows how little beyond the Braves you understand about MLB.
This is a very good team of talented players. The Braves are very talented too but the Mets are the better team.
Nobody remembers who won the division if they get knocked out early and don’t make at least a appearance in the World Series.
For example nobody can really tell me every division winner from 2013 but a lot of people can tell you the World Series match up.
I won’t be surprised to see either the Mets or dodgers get knocked out early as usually the wild card teams are the hottest teams and with a additional wild card team this year a lot could happen
Gifted a victory? Lol ok bruh. I’ve seen the braves gifted with many victories this hear so shhhhhh. Everything evens out in baseball. We played the dodgers 7 games and all games were even just about
The Mets have the best on the field team they have had seemingly in many years. The truth is, the Braves do as well.
Currently that 3 game lead the Mets enjoy seems to be looming as almost insurmountable. If I am not mistaken Atlanta failed to gain any ground in August.
As much as I’d love for the Mets to fade and the braves to win the NL East, it will be a VERY difficult task for them to do so.
Nevertheless Atlanta WILL undoubtedly make the playoffs and then anything can happen.
Welp….
*w/o Soler, the Braves might have lost to Astros.
Regardless, once Soroka and Albies come back, the Braves will be better on paper. Once the playoffs start, no one will care who won the division. We will see how the Mets fare in the postseason when teams stop giving them free runs.
Expert analysis right here.
Can’t tell if this is sarcasm?
They won’t win the WS, but it will be with different reasons than just an immense amount of luck.
If the nationals and pirates are able to beat the Mets enough to let the braves grab the division than they can have it. Everyone gets their turn to play the bad teams in the league. The brave had it in the middle of the season and the Mets have it at the end. If the braves can manage to get past the dodgers in the DS than maybe the Mets will see them in the CS
Well if this season has taught me anything, it’s that the Pirates do their best work when they have to face a potential World Series contender.
Pirates are ruthless when you least expect it. And I like it.
You’re assuming the Mets win in the NLDS. Teams like the Cardinals have a history of getting hot and knocking off teams that are arguably better than they are.
They’ve owned the Dodgers this year going 5-1 against them.
4-3
Nope. 5-1
Mon, 5/9
vs
LAD
LAD
W5-1 12-16 Quintana 1-1 Urias 2-2 8,527
Tue, 5/10
vs
LAD
LAD
L11-1 12-17 Gonsolin 3-0 Wilson 0-2 11,583
Wed, 5/11
vs
LAD
LAD
W5-3 13-17 Crowe 2-2 Hudson 1-2 Bednar
Mon, 5/30
@
LAD
LAD
W6-5 20-27 Bednar 2-1 Kimbrel 0-1 46,724
Tue, 5/31
@
LAD
LAD
W5-3 21-27 Keller 2-5 Urias 3-5 Crowe 2 52,686
Wed, 6/1
@
LAD
LAD
W8-4 22-27 De Jong 2-0 White 1-1 39,324
I’m assuming like myself, you thought he was referring to the Mets/Dodgers. He was talking about Pirates.
Soroka/Fried/Strider/Wright/Odorizzi/Anderson/Muller/Ynoa/Tarnok plus the young core of position players. This might be the closest thing to the 90’s Braves they will ever be able to assemble
If Soroka is still Soroka of old it’s the best Braves rotation since maybe 1998 (Maddux Glavine Smoltz Millwood Neagle), one of the few years that core had a legit 1-5.
My goodness… That 98 Braves team had 7 pitchers start a game all year.
Yet even that team could not win multiple titles.
I HATE the Mets, but would never wish harm to any player that’s just wrong as a human being. I would also not call the Mets season as “Lucky” the have played solid baseball and are in 1st because of that solid play. I said it a few months ago. I feel their greatest off-season addition was Buck Showalter. Throwback manager that holds dudes accountable and they play hard for him. Of course Schezer and De’Grom get the spotlight the Polar Bear and Lindor too but Show has them playing hard and it shows. I still feel the Braves match up with them and can overtake them in the division.
Have to just say these aren’t the Mets of old. Something has changed. They were challenged mightily by the Braves over the last two months and they actually played better instead of collapsing like they normally do. Even the Phillies were playing better trying to gain ground.
In all the NL East went from a division people were questioning to one of the better ones .. and the Mets didn’t collapse. Kudos to them for that.
I wonder how much Scherzer has to do with that attitude.
There’s some absolute nonsense written on this page by a so called Braves fan who asserts the Braves won a World Series through “luck”, that just goes to demonstrate how clueless that troll is. The fact is that troll is a Mets fan who comes on Braves news articles and writes endless rubbish talking about the lucky Braves incessantly, but he is an SNY subscriber and watches all Mets games. The Brewers and the Dodgers and the Astros just didn’t lie down and let the Braves “luck” a World Series, and any realist or anyone that has played sport at any decent level will tell you that you just don’t luck your way through those aforementioned teams and the way the playoff format is structured.
Will Smith pitched to a World Series and post season ERA of 0.00-11 innings for nought, and faced 39 batters, that is not luck in absolutely high leverage situations facing pro hitters, this just goes to demonstrate that the clueless troll hasn’t got a clue about baseball, let alone calling Acuna ‘overrated’ and wanted Bumgarner to be on the roster for the Braves when Smyly more than did his job when required.
I have absolute respect for the Mets and Showalter, but some of the Mets disrespectful fans are clueless and disrespectful to the Braves. We actually won the World Series in 2021, but you continue to be disrespectful to the Braves organization. The Mets are not better than the Braves, and the Braves are not better than the Mets in 2022, but there’s one thing, we actually won a World Series which you haven’t done since 1986. The other thing is that the Braves have been to the post season far more than the Mets over the past 20 years.
If you went through each clubs rosters you could say who has advantages and disadvantages. There is currently 3 games in it, Braves failed to take advantage of being ahead in 2 games v Cardinals and it cost them big time in the race to see who wins the division, and then Mets lost 1-0 to the Rockies with Scherzer on the mound, and the Braves lost 3-2 to the Rockies with Fried on the mound, and he gave up an unearned run through an error of his own which ended up being decisive, that’s baseball.
Braves have scored 649 runs 508 against, differential 141, Mets have scored 617 488 against, differential 129, there’s 12 runs in it and 3 games. Mets have a better schedule for the last 30 odd games, so it will be close. If you win the division, congratulations, but don’t start talking garbage about how you’re better, there’s only 3 sides in all of MLB with a better differential than the Braves, and they are the Dodgers, the Yankees and the Astros, that demonstrates just how good the Braves are, and don’t forget that the Marlins have 3 starting pitchers with ERA’s under 3.70 showing what a strong division it is, not to mention the Phillies who have also played really well and have a very strong lineup.
I’m not commenting on that poster but all teams that win have to get lucky to a certain extent. The best team does not usually win in MLB. That’s because there are two distinctly different seasons – the regular season and the postseason and you can only roster for one of them. Any short series introduces small sample size variations that don’t happen over such a long regular season.
Hoping to see Soroka next week… that’d be hype as hell
And I thought Marlins Fanbase was clueless. This whole fan base is made up of whiners, cry babies and excuse makers with the very occasional decent fan mixed it a la bravesnation above. Words like lucky and gifted or crying about Mets fans are sad. The Braves are a very good team that is behind another very good team in the Mets. The Braves are 7-9 against the Mets and below .500 against teams above .500 this year. No matter how you try to cry about it, numbers don’t lie. The sample size is 132 games at this point
@Bryan C
I wouldn’t call stating facts about baseball crying or whining, but there you have it, spin it all you like.
It’s awesome watching Braves and Mets fans complain every day to each other about who was lucky or who wasn’t
The St Louis Cardinals would like to discuss the part about the best infield in baseball ….
Tell the Cards to get a real shortstop and a 2Bman better than Albies then. True that Arenado’s a better glove than Riley, but he’s not the better hitter. Goldschmidt’s clearly in the top 2 1Bmen in the NL, but Olson’s in the top 4 along w/FF and Alonso. Only a homer Cards fan would claim that any of the gang of nobodies StL runs out at SS compare to Swanson. DeJong? Edman? Nah. Only reason Gorman has better numbers than Ozzie is because Ozzie’s been out since June. No Cards 2Bman can even carry Albie’s glove. Advantage Braves due to no contenders at SS or 2B for the Cards.