BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues
ROSTERED IN: 47% of Leagues
ANALYSIS: Nearly three years after he last stepped foot on a major-league mound, Michael Soroka will be called up from Triple-A Gwinnett for a start this Monday.
Soroka experienced many setbacks in his three-year recovery process. He first tore his Achilles in August 2020 in a start against the New York Mets. While in recovery, he again tore his Achilles in June 2021. His first rehab assignment was delayed to August of last year because of tightness near his Achilles.
Soroka started the season on a lengthy rehab assignment with Triple-A Gwinnett. He holds a 4.33 ERA with a 23% strikeout rate, a 7.2% walk rate, and a .263 opponent batting average in eight starts. While he has struggled with Gwinnett this season, he’s coming off two encouraging starts. In his last two starts, he holds a 1.69 ERA with a 31.7% strikeout rate and a .111 opponent batting average in 10-and-2/3rds innings.
Soroka's only full season of major-league pitching was his rookie year. In 2019, he threw 174-and-2/3rds innings with a 2.68 ERA, 0.7 HR/9, and 13 wins, finishing second in Rookie of the Year voting and sixth in Cy Young voting. Soroka made his bacon as a groundball pitcher, with a sixth-ranked 51.2% groundball rate in 2022.
21 Seconds of Mike Soroka's Sinkers. 😯 pic.twitter.com/FCvubKclXr
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 8, 2019
He’ll step right into a two-start week, with his first start against the Oakland Athletics. The A’s rank second-to-last in both runs scored and OPS. With his past two starts with Gwinnett coming against the elite Triple-A teams of the Rays and Cardinals, he should be more comfortable against Oakland's best.
Soroka will likely make another start this week against the Diamondbacks on Sunday. While Arizona is eighth in runs scored and OPS, they hit into ground balls often and have recently struggled against groundball pitchers like Logan Webb and Alex Cobb.
He may need time to readjust to the grind of major-league pitching, but his proven all-star ceiling warrants rostering in all formats.
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