NORTH PORT, Fla. — After tearing his Achilles tendon twice in less than a year, Braves pitcher Mike Soroka has every right to feel sadness, anger or any other negative emotion.
“I’m happy,” he said.
Uh, what?
Upon further review, he actually said this, meant it and later elaborated on it. He insists he remained positive the whole time, that anyone who knows him wouldn’t expect anything different.
“To think that I tore my Achilles twice in basically a year’s span, and it really still wasn’t one of the toughest years of my life,” he said, “is kind of one of the things where there’s a silver lining to everything.”
From the outside, it might be difficult to spot a positive in his situation. Soroka burst onto the scene in 2018 and was an All-Star the next season.
Then, he tore his Achilles tendon in 2020.
And did it again in 2021.
To onlookers, his career perhaps seemed derailed. But his spin tells a different story.
“You could’ve done it in the minor leagues, and I wouldn’t have been getting paid, I wouldn’t have been getting service time,” Soroka said. “At the same rate, I could’ve gone to college, could’ve done it in college, and then I’m basically on my own for rehab.”
And then there’s this: Soroka, who turns 25 in August, said he’s talked with Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos about how these two injuries early in his career could help him preserve his arm. The righty wants to maintain his velocity deep into his career and believes not throwing now could help him do so.
“There’s many, many other things that could’ve gone wrong,” Soroka said.
So instead, he focuses on what’s going well.
He is running in a straight line right now. He has been jumping for over a month. He’s throwing but won’t do specific baseball activities until he completes his rehab. The Braves don’t want to put out a timetable for Soroka’s return, but the initial thought seems to be that he will return after the All-Star break. The Braves on Wednesday transferred Soroka to the 60-day injured list.
Over 37 career starts, Soroka has a 2.86 ERA. He said he will ensure that when he returns, “I’m back to everything and more.”
And for good measure, there’s one more silver lining from a pitcher who has somehow remained positive through a seemingly awful situation.
“I know when you come back from an injury, there’s an edge that you have that others don’t,” Soroka said. “I’ll know I’ll be even stronger mentally than I was before and just excited to use that. It’s going to be a great moment, it’s a moment that I haven’t really thought about too much yet. Just trying to keep it day to day and put one foot in front of the other and, again, let the good things happen.”
Charlie Morton takes step forward
Charlie Morton (fractured right fibula) on Wednesday did three up-downs – the equivalent of going to the mound for three innings – in a simulated game.
“I thought he looked awesome,” manager Brian Snitker said. “I thought the ball was coming out really, really good actually, so that was good for him to get back out there.”
Days ago, the Braves felt they needed to see Morton with their own eyes to see where he was weeks before opening day. Snitker on Wednesday said Morton is “probably” ahead of expectations.
Had Morton pitched in a spring training game and not a simulated game, he probably would’ve thrown only two innings, Snitker said. The controlled environment allowed the Braves to send him out for 10 more pitches in the third inning.
It seems Morton will be able to start a game in the season’s first few days.
“Until he’s not, I feel like he is,” Snitker said.
Braves add reliever
The Braves on Wednesday had already signed outfielders Eddie Rosario and Alex Dickerson.
The third move of the day: They signed righty Tyler Thornburg to a non-guaranteed, one-year major-league contract worth $900,000. He last pitched in the majors in 2020 for the Reds, but hasn’t since because he had Tommy John surgery in September of that year.
Thornburg, who missed all of 2021, has a 3.48 ERA over 261 1/3 career innings.
Who will play in Grapefruit League opener?
The Braves on Friday open their Grapefruit League schedule against the Twins at CoolToday Park.
Snitker said minor leaguers will pitch in that game. Big leaguers may play something like four innings in the field and could get two at-bats.
Like every other club, the Braves are remaining cautious as they ready their players for the season amid weird circumstances because of the lockout.
MLB revises Braves schedule
Before MLB canceled games because of the lockout, the schedule had the Braves opening the season with four games in Miami before playing two in New York.
The league announced Wednesday how the Braves will make up those games.
The Braves will play a traditional doubleheader May 3 in New York, then a split doubleheader Aug. 6.
The Braves will play one doubleheader in Miami on Aug. 13, then the final three games versus the Marlins will be made up Oct. 3-5.
