White Sox manager Pedro Grifol told members of the club’s beat today that right-handers Michael Soroka and Brad Keller will be swapping places, with Soroka moving to the bullpen and Keller taking over his rotation spot. Soroka will stay stretched out and work multiple innings. James Fegan of Sox Machine was among those to pass along the information on X.
Soroka, 26, was one of five players that the Sox acquired from Atlanta in the November trade that sent Aaron Bummer the other way. Chicago gave Soroka a rotation spot but the results have been quite poor so far. Through nine starts and 43 2/3 innings, he has a 6.39 earned run average, which is the worst mark among qualified pitchers in the majors this year.
That performance is backed up by uninspiring peripherals. His 46.9% ground ball is good but he has equal strikeout and walk totals of 24. That means he has a 12.4% rate of both punchouts and free passes, both of which are well worse than league average.
It was understandable why the Sox were willing to give Soroka a shot. They started gutting their rotation at last year’s deadline by trading away Lucas Giolito and Lance Lynn. They didn’t flip Dylan Cease until March but it was clear that he was going to be out the door at some point as well. In March, it was reported that Michael Kopech was moving to the bullpen, though private discussions about that decision must have taken place prior to that.
There were plenty of holes to fill in the rotation and Soroka had been a dominant starter in the past. With Atlanta in 2019, he made 29 starts with a 2.68 ERA, 20.3% strikeout rate, 5.8% walk rate and 51.2% ground ball rate. But he then tore his achilles tendon twice in nine months and hasn’t seemed like the same pitcher since. He didn’t pitch in the majors in 2021 or 2022 and then had a 6.40 ERA with Atlanta last year.
The Sox were undoubtedly hoping for a bounceback with a bit more remove from his injury absence. Soroka is an impending free agent, so any kind of step forward could have turned him into an interesting trade candidate this summer. But as mentioned, it hasn’t played out that way so far.
His continued struggles will get him pushed to the bullpen, though there’s a path to returning to the rotation, like Chris Flexen.. “He’s got some adjustments to make that we feel can really help him,” Grifol said, per Daryl Van Schouwen of the Chicago Sun-Times. “We did the same thing with Flexen. He pitched out of the bullpen, he threw a couple times, threw the ball great. Now he’s in the rotation.”
Flexen allowed 13 earned runs over his first three starts this year but then got bumped to the ’pen. He then threw four scoreless innings in his first relief outing and allowed just one run over 2 1/3. Since then, he has made three starts with just three earned run allowed in 16 innings.
Soroka could follow a similar path by improving his results, though another opportunity could also arise due to factors outside of his control. Pitchers injuries are common and the Sox could need Soroka in the rotation again if one is suffered by one of their starters.
It’s also possible that midseason trades will open spots in the months to come. Keller, Flexen and Clevinger are impending free agents and should be available. Erick Fedde is a possibility to go as well, given that he is on a two-year deal and putting up good numbers. Garrett Crochet is controllable through 2026, which makes him less obvious as a trade possibility, but it’s not impossible to imagine the Sox selling high on a guy who has missed a lot of time. Even if Crochet isn’t traded, he could hit a workload limit at some point since he’s thrown so little in the past.
For now, Clevinger, Fedde, Crochet and Flexen will be joined by Keller. He’s made four appearances for the Sox this year, including one start, with a 2.84 ERA. His 16.4% strikeout rate in that small sample isn’t very strong but he’s getting grounders at a 56.1% rate.
He’s had some previous success with that kind of shape. With the Royals from 2018 to 2020, he tossed 360 1/3 innings with a 3.50 ERA, 16.8% strikeout rate and 52.1% ground ball rate. But over the next three years, his ERA was at 5.14. His strikeout and ground ball rates held fairly steady over those spans, but his walk rate jump from 9.1% in the first one to 11.5% in the second.
He underwent surgery to address thoracic outlet syndrome late last year but seems to be back to his old self so far, at least in terms of making hitters pound the ball into the ground. The Sox will roll with him for a while Soroka tries to get his house in order and retake a rotation spot down the line.
But they need a new stadium to compete…..
Maybe an additional subsidy for the emotional pain of tanking? Not too ostentatious a number…half a billion seems to be right, with some infrastructure thrown in
“Additional subsidy”…Why should the richest Americans get welfare, aka “tax breaks” or “subsidies”?…It should be unconstitutional to give money to billionaires while millions of Americans are homeless and don’t know where their next meal is coming from.
Yeah when Mike Lum hit that rough patch it was curtains. Henry Aaron and Felix Millan too. Washed up by the end of their time there.
Thats the least of fans worries, as ‘The Chairman’ is looking at building his own network to show White Sox games, like the Marquee network for the Cubs. While not a huge deal, it just means cable
bills going up to see such lackadaisical efforts. I guess it will be called the Miser network?
Soroka is cooked; when Atlanta says you’re done, you’re done. I remember years ago many people thought Atlanta was nuts for releasing Brandon Beachy(and another injured pitcher who I can’t remember)after he got injured and they were again proved right.
Definite Beachy scenario here.
@mlbfan: You’re probably thinking about Kris Medlen.
That name certainly sounds familiar. Thanks broham.
They were wrong about Mike Minor though.
“They were wrong about Mike Minor”..As I remember, at least 1 team got burnt on a Mike Minor contract. I can’t remember which team it was(Minor pitched for several)but most times it’s better releasing guys a year too early than a year too late. That same basic sports management philosophy won Bill Bellichick 6 Super Bowls with an ever changing cast of players.
Not really. He missed all of 2015 & 2016. What were they to do? Then had a couple of pretty decent seasons, one great one, and was cooked.
I feel sorry for Soroka. He has tried so hard for so long to return to the pitcher he was in 2019. He was truly fantastic that year. Now I wonder if he will still be on a MLB roster next year.
he had to change his delivery and was never the same.
“I feel sorry for…still be on a MLB roster next year”…Past stardom and success buys you a few “grace” years and a longer leash in MLB. That being said, Soroka’s time is nearly running out and I’m sure it’ll be “make good” minor league deals from here on out. After all, Atlanta is the only team he’s provided value and positive outcomes for. Subsequent teams have less and less incentive to keep rostering him(he gets more costly every year)at the Major League level.
Soroka is young enough to switch professions and return to his winter love of hockey. He was a promising goalie growing up, and considering the massive goaltending struggles afflicting so many of the clubs still in the playoffs, there is a healthy demand for puckstoppers who are unaffected by the calendar, so they can make the big saves in May and June just as they can in October and November. Unless Soroka has a powerful hankering to play ball in the Far East-nothing wrong with that–he really should strap on the pads and rebuild his sports career as goalie. Age is still his friend, but not for much longer.
Someone will always give him a minor league contract and maybe find lightening in a bottle. I would have never guessed that Shelby Miller would still be in the majors
Him and Sixto were going to be top 5 MLB arms of the future.
Your not wrong.
Such is the life of a starting pitcher.
Can someone teach pitchers how to hold runners on base .I thought that was the managers job or maybe the pitching coaches job but they just don’t have a clue.
Cannot blame managers or coaches EVER in the White Sox org, its NEVER the coaches fault.. its ALL of the players, all having the same issues at the same time for season after season with the same stuff happening over and over….. Oh wait, that actually IS the fault of the staff… Good luck explaining that to the owner.
I mean this was the same org that put a hand puppet for Williams, Ventura, into the manager seat for 5 years when it only took one to see he was not cut out of it. Heck even then he had to ‘step down’ as manager… Even though it was obvious to Robin he was not cut out for it, this org refused to fire him. Again lack of accountability corrodes an org.
Kinda feel bad for Soroka though.
Poor dude. Such a great start to his career. Injuries just got him.
Soroka leads the league in runs and HR allowed. He actually had worse run & hr rates last season. Watching him pitch he just doesn’t seem to have it unfortunately. Watched most of his starts last year and he had no command of his pitches. Even his strikeouts seemed to be on bad pitches in unexpected locations on accident. I don’t think the bullpen will help his command but we’ll see.
It’s almost like trying to field a team of 15+ reclamation projects and outright scrubs isn’t a good baseball strategy. Reinsdorf is garbage and Getz has failed his way into Reinsdorfs infinite patience and grace. This team will be hot garbage for decades or until Reinsdorf dies.
The Rangers were the team. They got one decent year out of him in ’19.
“Mike Minor signed a 3 year , $28,000,000 contract with the Texas Rangers, including $1,000,000 signing bonus, $28,000,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $9,333,333.”
Fedde doing a nice job pitching his way out of town with his 1.5-1.75yrs of relatively low cost.
Not watching the JR organizational dysfunction, but stats look good even if clubs are leery of buying high. The old supply and demand adage even if he tails off a little from his Korean league rejuvenation.
Fedde is 4-0 after last night’s game so, yeah, he’s out the door at the deadline. Vaughn’s found his power stroke, so back your bags, Andrew.
Andrew did that for one game.. If anything its going to be a sign to keep him around when they should have traded him before last season (which I will freely admit at that time I was one of the defenders of Vaughn). Im not a fan of Vaughn anymore though, I get that the org put him in a difficult position right out of the gate,and he did exceedingly well being in that fire of learning the OF while adapting to the majors but being that he would finally be at his ‘position’ at 1st was supposed bring his bat out that was over a year ago.. still waiting. Never mind how many times he has to look like a gymnastic stretching for everything throw his way, partly due to the errant throws, but also partly due to his short nature.. 6’5″ guys like Sheets does not have this issue.
Could Vaughn be good? With an actual hitting coach instead of the wallflower the Sox have? Maybe. But doubting we will see that on the south side
Fedde has pitched well, but his impressive stats have come at the expense of a lot of bummy teams. Yes, the Guardians are bums, IMO. Fedde didn’t make the schedule or decide who he’ll pitch against, so no criticism of him. I’m eager to see how he pitches against the really good lineups, and if he matches up well against them, his soaring trade value come July might force the hand of Getz. This is more opportunity than problem, and I want to see more of them than the latter.
2 year deal btw.
Well I guess we can look at it this way at this point, its not like Soroka is damaging this club. It would be different if the Sox were actually competing and he was the sole guy letting down the team…
Most of the guys on this roster are going to be gone this year or next. Its just maddening to watch another rebuild from an org (and its owner) that cannot be trusted to do it correctly. Another 1 year and a half of this to see if Getz really can get it right, or if we see another tear down after that misfires….ugh.
2024 was always a bridge/rebuild year
Really sad to see Soroka struggling. He was a legit TOR talent and would have been a star for years. Hopefully he can bounce back and have a nice career.