10:02pm: Soroka’s season is over, manager Brian Snitker confirmed to reporters (including Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). Fortunately, imaging didn’t reveal any structural concerns and Soroka will not require surgery. With only a few weeks left in the regular season and Soroka unlikely to crack Atlanta’s playoff rosters regardless, the team will play things cautiously and shut him down.
10:00am: The Braves announced today that they have recalled right-handers Darius Vines and Ben Heller. In corresponding moves, righties Michael Soroka and Collin McHugh have each been placed on the 15-day injured list, Soroka due to right forearm inflammation and McHugh due to right shoulder inflammation.
Soroka started last night’s game for Atlanta but lasted just three innings, allowing five earned runs. Manager Brian Snitker spoke to reporters after the game, including David O’Brien of The Athletic, explaining that Soroka was experiencing numbness in the fingers of his pitching hand. “I think it’s probably a big deal,” Snitker said.
Further testing will surely come, with more information to follow based on that. Whatever the eventual results, it’s yet another frustrating setback for a pitcher who has had more than his fair share. After he made 29 starts in 2019 with a 2.68 earned run average, it seemed like he would be a cornerstone of the club’s rotation for years to come. But he then missed most of the next three seasons due to injuries, with two ruptures of his right Achilles tendon being the main culprit.
This year, he was slowed by a hamstring issue in the spring but had been largely healthy since then, getting frequently optioned to Triple-A and back as needed. He has a solid 3.41 ERA in 87 Triple-A innings this year but has a 6.40 mark in his 32 1/3 big league frames. After so much missed time, just being able to take the mound and take on that workload has to count as a big win, but he’s now facing yet another injury setback.
McHugh, now 36, signed with Atlanta on a two-year, $10MM deal going into 2022. The first season of that deal could hardly have gone much better, as he posted a 2.60 ERA over 69 1/3 innings. This year, however, his ERA has climbed to 4.30 in his 58 2/3 innings. Last year’s strikeout rate of 27.6% has dropped to just 17.5% this year, while his walk rate has climbed from 5.1% to 8.2%.
The club is in comfortable position right now, with a lead of 14.5 games in the National League East and even a lead of 3.5 games over the Orioles for best team in the majors. They will cruise into the postseason but will have a bit less pitching depth for the next few weeks and perhaps into October. A quick turnaround from either pitcher or a deep postseason run from the club could get Soroka or McHugh back into the mix but the time left in the season is narrowing quickly.
Atlanta will eventually have to make decisions about the future of both pitchers. McHugh’s contract contains a $6MM club option for 2024 with a $1MM buyout. Soroka will be eligible for arbitration again and due a raise on this year’s $2.8MM salary. He’s in his final option year and is slated to be out of options next season, which will give him less roster maneuverability going forward.
McHugh is on for being terrible.
And although it could be a phantom injury, isn’t it also very possible that McHugh’s recent ineffectiveness has been caused by some type of injury that he had tried to pitch through?
He had a decent first half of the season, not so much in the second half. At this point I doubt he makes the playoff roster.
It’s amazing how the fans of some teams are so spoiled. McHugh is not an All Star, but a 4.30 ERA is really not THAT bad. Hell, he would be among the best relievers on several teams with that ERA. Like many relievers, he is probably just suffering from overwork this late in the year.
hiflew: 4.30 IS a bad ERA. Even 3.30 is a bad ERA. If that makes him one of the best relievers on several teams, it’s time to raise the mound back where it was after Denny McLain won 31 games in 1968.
No it is an average ERA. Actually a little better than average. The average MLB ERA in 2023 in 4.33. I guess it just depends on your definition of good and bad, but I tend to limit “bad” ERA to well below average. Apparently your definition of bad is everyone below the top 10%. Good luck to you with that.
104 ERA+ suggests he’s been above league average (just above), but also with terrible BB/9 rates, almost twice as high as year’s past with low K-rate. Still, $5M is not a lot for a RP, even going on 37 y/o.
Relievers are expected to have lower ERA’s than starters, because their usage is more optimized. A reliever who has a league average ERA is below average for a reliever.
True, but you can also make the opposite claim, as most RPs are brought in with inherited runners, that admittedly get charged to previous P, but if you’ve caught a team in the middle of a rally, you could get tagged hurting your ERA, not including the fact that there’s a high likelihood that RP are taking over going through the heart of the order and not the lower-third that’s considerably less likely to be productive.
You should have just stopped at, “True”.
I have always thought there needed to be an adjusted ERA where the original pitcher only should get charged for a fraction of the run and the reliever charged with the rest. Perhaps the original guy get charged with a quarter of a run depending on the base location of the runner when the pitcher exits. If the runner is on second, both pitcher get charged half a run if he scores. If the runner is on first, the starter gets a quarter run and the reliever three quarters.
I think it would give a more accurate ERA to all involved. I have never thought it was fair for a reliever to come in and give up a grand slam to his first batter and only get charged with one run.
I like your idea of inherited runners being worth different values depending on what base they are on. A 4.30 ERA isn’t terrible for a starter and typically a 3.30 ERA is just good. I think Kyle Wright posted around a 3.18 ERA last year and led all of baseball with 21 wins. 3.30 isn’t too far off of 3.18 so it can’t be that bad. Reliever ERA’s are generally unreliable though maybe they get really shelled in in 2 or 3 games and lose those games but still help their team win another 60 games the rest of the season. Maybe some of the actual Braves fans here can provide some more detail on this but I’ve watched McHugh a few times this season. He would come in games needing only on out to get out of the inning and would allow every single inherited runner score while still allowing enough of his own runs to reach a 4.30 ERA. That’s not good. It’s bad. Relievers are brought in when the starter is struggling so they need the reliever to be a stopper. Allowing all the inherited runners to score and then posting a 4.30 ERA on top of that is just not good enough IMO. If MLB were to switch to your method of the reliever taking on some of the burden of inherited runners scoring, I would imagine McHugh’s ERA would be much higher. I think the same is true about the recent years of Kenley Jansen. He’s the proven closer so he should be the best bullpen “stopper” on the team. I’ve watched that guy allow so many inherited runs it’s ridiculous. Then he posts an ERA over 3.00 in addition to those runs. In addition to that I believe he led the league in blown saves last season and now has already earned 5 losses for the Red Sox this season. That’s in addition to the 1 or 2 earned runs he allows every third appearance. I think McHugh is pretty terrible now though. It’s not just because of his ERA. His ERA isn’t great but if you are a reliever you need to at least be able to stop inherited runners from scoring. That’s why they are relievers. They have to deal with inherited runners and McHugh just doesn’t look like he can anymore from what I have seen.
@Steve. You are right, he is bad. Tonkin (8/30) and McHugh (10/34) are 10th and 11th in the NL in letting inherited runners score.
9/12Florida
Do you understand that statistic? How in the world is being 10th and 11th on that list “bad”, what do you expect that stat to be? McHugh can strike guys out, but he’s more a pitch to contact pitcher.
In August, McHugh inherited 12 runners, 6 scored, whether or not his shoulder was troubling him already we don’t know, but that’s where his inherited scored has shot up, and he’s still at 29.1% which is quite ok. July he inherited 6, 0 scored, June he inherited 6, 1 scored, May he inherited 9, 2 scored, April he inherited 4, 1 scored.. Overall he’s been good, and I hope he gets healthy. Therefore, your comment, “he is bad” is factually wrong, most of the time he’s put out fires. Have a nice day.
If McHugh were as good as you say the Braves wouldn’t have just turned down his team option. Tonkin was flat out released..
Gotta feel bad for Soroka… so talented, at least he’s also got an IQ north of 160 and went to college… In case the cake is never real for him too…
Soroka was drafted right out of high school by the Braves. He was committed to the University of California Berkley but never attended because he signed w/the Braves.
The Braves always seem to come up with mystery ailments when they need to make a roster change. I’m happy to see Vines being recalled.
That’s AA MO. Also benefits having AAA just 45 mins away from Truist. I almost feel bad LAD’s AAA is in OK City.
Sorry for all the acronyms.
NP, it’s OK TBH.
NBD
NBD. You’re good IMO
TY for clearing up that SNAFU
With as many medical problems Soroka has I think it’s time to move on from him because he can’t stay healthy.
non tender candidate and resigns on a minor league deal.
If he needs another TJS, then maybe. If it’s not that severe, I can see approaching him on a 2-year make-good contract like they did with Matzek. Anticipate he’ll be on the 60-day IL most of 2024 and then hope he can come back in ’25.
I think tendering Soroka a contract for his final arb year is worth the gamble. He may get $4.1MM through arb. That’s the cost of a solid reliever. The bad news is he’s always injured. The good is he’s young and doesn’t have a lot of arm mileage.
but how long do you want to keep giving him these types of contracts? Feel good story has run out of gas.
Take the emotions out of it anf take a look at his entire body of work at 25 y.o. For what he’ll make next season, his salary will be easy to shed if the Braves want to trade him in ST for lottery ticket prospects.
Another TJS? When was Soroka’s first one?
You’re right bigal. Soroka’s never had TJS. Two Achilles surgeries but no TJS.
I don’t think you move on from him. Due to the Achilles stuff he hasn’t pitched hardly at all for a while before this season. My initial thought here is the grind has just wore him down this season as he tries to build back up. For what will likely be less than 5m, it’s almost a no-brainer you try it again next year. A lot of scrapheap pitchers can fetch that much in FA, and Sororka has a higher ceiling IF he can return to form. It’s not a given, but worth the gamble.
I agree Mac has been inconsistent, nothing like last yr. hoping Anderson can replace on playoff roster.
hes throwing off the mound, rehab assignment to follow.
Soroka hurt again. Nobody is surprised.
Vines shouldn’t have been sent down in the first place. Welcome back.
Forgot to post this—
In his second rehab start (last night) with Gwinett Stripers, Kyle Wright looked great. He pitched for 3.2 innings and allowed just one hit, no runs, two walks, and seven strikeouts for the AAA affiliate.
si.com/mlb/braves/news/atlanta-braves-briefing-kyl…
I see him as a possible replacement for McHugh. Long relief, potential opener. Not someone you’d expect to pitch 5+ innings every outing. Hope Uncle Jesse gets back soon!
Agreed.
The only information I could find is that Chavez has been throwing off a mound. But he hasn’t begun a rehab assignment yet. There are very few updates to be found about him. If you have anything new to share, please do so.
Allan Winans was impressive imo. He had a bad game against a team he had just faced like 5 days prior. This is very common. If he was a strikeout pitcher he would be given more chances, and earlier. This is why the Mets didn’t retain him. I believe he led AAA in era. The Braves themselves had Elder, who also strikes out very few, practically last in the depth chart entering the year despite him having success last year. Only injuries and ineffectiveness gave him a shot. Vines should also be given a chance, don’t get me wrong. But it’s all because they aren’t seen as guys with much potential because of low K rates, as if nobody can succeed that way. Granted some of the guys who got called up also aren’t strikeout pitchers, but I think it’s a matter of thinking “we’ve got more invested in this guy” or “he is rated as a higher prospect”, along with not having a great solution and throwing them all out there because some will become trade bait. The person who shouldn’t have gotten so many chances was Soroka.
I think Winans floor is much higher than Vines. His consistent approach has given him pretty good results in his pro career. But Vines’ ceiling is way higher than Winans. The 3 pitch mix from vines(FB, CH, SL) is collectively so much better than Winans.
Big bummer that we haven’t got to see what Soroka is capable of due to injuries that aren’t really in his control.
That’s the last we will see of those 2 in a Braves uniform.
Numbness in hand? Hopefully not thoracic outlet.
So if the Braves win it all does soroka get a ring or is it just active roster ?
He’ll get a ring. He just won’t feel it.
That’s cold.
I think the Braves should still tender Soroka a contract, if it’s not TJS or like a flexor strain, he’s 26 years old with low mileage on his arm.
But he hasn’t pitched well since 2019. What corporation would let an employee under perform for 4-5 years and still welcome them back? Honestly he needs another half a season or more in the minors. I dont think hes worth a 40 man roster spot.
Non-tender and bring him back on a minor league deal.