January 17, 2020

Mike Soroka had been one of the Braves' top pitching prospects and burst onto the scene for Atlanta in 2019. The 22-year-old righty won 13 games with a 2.68 ERA, 1.11 WHIP and finished second in NL Rookie of the Year voting. As a prospect, Soroka was known for excellent control and extreme ground-ball tendencies which he brought to the Major League level. Soroka's 51.2 percent ground-ball rate was sixth in baseball while only walking 5.9 percent of batters. Like most ground ball pitchers, Soroka relies heavily on a sinker, throwing it 45 percent of the time while pairing it with a plus-slider that generates an impressive 15.9 swinging-strike rate. Soroka mixes in an above-average four-seamer and changeup that keeps batters off balance and back up his excellent batted ball data. His 87 MPH average exit velocity is well above league average and he ranked 10th in barrel avoidance at just 5.1 percent of batted balls. Where Soroka won't contribute is strikeouts as he put up just 7.32 K/9 last year and his 20.3 percent K% ranked in the bottom-20 of qualified pitchers. Soroka can be drafted near 100 overall which is fair value for a young pitcher with his upside. His 3.45 FIP from last year suggests his ERA won't be quite as good as it was but a 200 inning season with 13-15 wins and a low-mid 3's ERA is a reasonable expectation for Soroka.--Mike Schwarzenbach - RotoBaller