The Braves announced Thursday afternoon that right-hander Michael Soroka has been optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett. That was generally expected considering a hamstring injury knocked him out of the race for the fifth starter’s role out of camp.
An All-Star and Rookie of the Year runner-up in 2019, Soroka is looking to return to a big league mound for the first time in nearly three years. A ruptured Achilles tendon three starts into the 2020 campaign required surgery that came with a year-long recovery process. As he was nearing a return to game action, the Achilles blew out again and put his rehab back at square one.
Soroka was able to make it back at the tail end of last season but wasn’t in position to be thrust into the middle of a pennant race. The Braves gave him five starts in Gwinnett before shutting him down with some shoulder fatigue they attributed to the long layoff. He was generally seen as one of three candidates for the #5 starter role entering camp — Ian Anderson and Bryce Elder being the others — but hamstring soreness shut him down for the first couple weeks.
The 25-year-old returned to the mound yesterday, going through the Tigers’ batting order once in Grapefruit League play. It’s a positive step but certainly not the endpoint, as he’ll continue to build pitch counts in future appearances. Atlanta will send him back to Gwinnett to do so with an eye towards a potential midseason call.
Anderson and Elder have been healthy this spring but were outpitched in exhibition play by prospects Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd. The Braves optioned both Elder and Anderson last week, leaving the #5 job to one of the hurlers who have yet to make their MLB debut. Manager Brian Snitker didn’t tip the organization’s hand on that camp battle this morning, praising both pitchers and noting the club still has yet to make that decision (link via Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution).
Gwinnett is going to have an awesome rotation.
You at right; Gwinnett will have a nasty starting pitching staff to begin the year. Hopefully, at least Soroka will make it back to the majors by May and others may follow as well. I still like Anderson a lot and Elder is a major league-ready pitcher too in my opinion. People feel like the Braves emptied their system to get Sean Murphy and others over the last 18 months or so, but they still have quite the collection of talent to deal away if they need a star shortstop or help in the back of their bullpen.
Right. Last year at this time the braves had the 27th best farm system in baseball. Then they put out Harris and strider. Lol. Braves > mlb.com
Grissom doesn’t qualify any more, but he’s a quality guy too.
And now that those players are gone, they have even less minor league talent. They either graduated or traded away all of it.
@big whiffa i generally put no stock in these “so called” rankings i judge a teams minor league strength based on how many kids they can bring up and be serviceable for the now and few years down the road. tbh the only rankings that matter are the 30 different rankings that each team has different one.
The Braves have plenty of mil talent. Most of their interesting position players are recent international signings that haven’t had time to make their mark yet. Their top of the draft of high school pitchers (Murphy, Ritchie, Phillips, etc.) and a couple of other recently drafted college arms (TJS pitchers Burkhalter, Schwellenbach, Maier,) is also very promising. Most of the media outlets that rank prospects give better ratings to teams w/ upper level talent that’s closer to providing ML value. The Braves will have prospects popping up in rankings over the next 2-3 years. Who cares anyway? The Braves organization is top notch at development. To blazes w/farm system ratings.
So much good pitching I forgot the most likely top arm—AJ Smith-Shawver. Top of the rotation arm in 2 years or less.
Their minor league system is ranked dead last…not sure they have much more than a couple of pitchers that teams would be interested in.
where did dodd or shuster come from? the braves consistently coach guys up and maximize kids’ potential. their farm system doesnt have many big names, but they know what they have on the inside and they get the most out of it.
There is a lot of talent in Atlanta’s farm system. Just in AAA you will have Shewmake, Grisson, either Dodd or Shuster, Ian Anderson, Elder, Soroka, Vines, Eli White, Luplow, Tromp, Munoz, Vodnik, Stephens and on and on. Most of these players would be on many big league teams. As far as up and coming prospects: Smith Sawyer, Owen Murphy, JR Richie, Cole Philips, Spencer Schwellenbach, Maier, Cal Conley, Wadell, ‘Nacho’ Alveraz, Burkhaulter, Keller—many of these guys have super high ceilings. These aare some of the guys if your interested you should follow this year. The system should really bounce back this year.
This post is a cry for help. Those guys are what you call prospects?
LOL!
LOLBraves fans are wild
Most of the guys in AAA are no more than organizational depth on any decent team. Now, that’s not a bad thing but teams are gonna be asking for those guys in a trade.
The BRAVES will win the World Series again this season. Count on it.
Thanks. I guess no reason to watch the season now. Should have a spoiler alert attached to your comment.
I too have a crystal ball except mine says the Pirates of Somalia will win the World Series over the Union Yankees.
It’s ironic that I hate the Braves as a division rival, but I’m really rooting for Soroka.
@von it’s hard not to root for a guy coming back from a serious injury regardless of the team even if you hate them. only exception to that is if the player was a pos person and soroka doesn’t strike me as a pos person
I have my personal feelings toward Altuve but I also hope he bounces back quickly with no setbacks so the Yankees can whoop him and team’s precious (bleep).
LOL
Thanks for this post.
WOAH WOAH WOAH IS HE
Don’t ever give up on a guy w his skill set. At 25 he will get back to full eventually and be a force again. Not a braves fan but shame to see all that happen to a guy for such an extended time. He was one of the best pitchers in baseball that 1 year
Matt Harvey vibes
Do you always like your own posts?
He’s the antithesis of Harvey
Completely different injuries, though. Soroka has a much better shot of coming back, imo. TOS can kill careers, which is what Harvey had.
3 pitchers with MLB experience at AAA that WILL be counted on to continue. I think it’s a good thing they will be battling it out toget back to ATL. Snit will play the hot hand and rotate if necessary. They will need more than 5 starters to make it a full 162. So pumped for the home opener Apr 6th. Battery is going to be jumping!
When did he start going by Michael?
A couple of months ago. He went by Michael his whole life until he turned pro, and got called Mike after that. Now he wants to go back to Michael.
Sorta like Giancarlo Stanton.
Health is this guy’s Achilles heel!
Hahaha Ohtani STRUCK OUT mike trOUT and Japan won!
espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35914856/shohei-ohtani-fan…
Trout got HBP TWICE during the game against Japan, and didnt take first either times. The first one glanced off thigh and he ignored ump when he was about to award him 1st. Then the second one hit on the bottom of the bat/hand. A little play up and he couldve had that one awarded too. Instead, he just stood back in the batters box.
Damn the team, he’s too good for an HBP.
Trout choked big time- extremely unclutch- on the biggest possible baseball stage- down 1 run, 9th inning, representing the country, with the championship on the line. Only bigger baseball stage would be the World Series- which Trout will never be playing in. Best part might be how Ohtani challenged Trout with fastballs right down the middle multiple times and Trout didn’t have a chance against it. It was already 99% certain that Ohtani was leaving Anaheim after this season, now it’s *definitely 100%* that he will be leaving and he has probably lost major respect for Trout on top of that. That strikeout is 1 of the best moments in baseball history- and that’s saying a huge amount even more especially so because it wasn’t even a MLB game.
Where do you get your stuff from?
Bruh, were you high when you wrote this ? Good God!
Braves are so F_cked.
Is F_cked short for F_ing stacked?
Well they are St_cked as well. But also F_cked.
Why are they screwed exactly?
You want me to explain it “exactly”? Do you mind if I just approximate?
Either way
I find it hard to tell you. I find it hard to take.
riveting stuff.
Seriously promote Gwinnett and relegate Oakland
Uh, I don’t want to go there, but considering what Oakland has cobbled together, this is a valid point.
now why would we punish atl like that giving them the a’s as there aaa team, i thought the constitution had something about no cruel and unusual punishment.
Basically Oakland has a Double A team at this point. I feel for that fanbase, they’re going through all the motions of Major League the movie.
Imagine at the end of 2019 telling a Braves fan that Soroka would miss 3 seasons and the team wouldn’t be able to find a spot for him when he got healthy again.
That injury felt devastating at the time.
Sooooo-broke-uh.
.714 win percentage = Hall of Fame.
Hall of Flameouts