The Braves soon could be bolstered by the returns of two young arms.
Luiz Gohara is on the bereavement list while his visits his ailing mother in Brazil. Mike Soroka is on the disabled list after experiencing soreness in his pitching shoulder.
The Braves are hopeful to have both players back within the next week.
Soroka will make his first, and possibly only, rehab start with Single-A Rome on Friday. The Braves will evaluate him afterward, but if all goes well he could rejoin the team during its California road trip.
“He’ll do his three or four innings tomorrow, then check him out afterward and see what happens,” manager Brian Snitker said.
Soroka has made three starts, accumulating a 3.68 ERA with 15 strikeouts against four walks in 14-2/3 innings, before the injury.
Gohara’s situation is a little less clear. Snitker isn’t privy to the details of his status, and given the lefty will pass the one-week maximum of time on the bereavement list after Thursday, he likely would need to be placed on the restricted list.
Snitker hopes Gohara will rejoin the team this weekend. He’ll throw a side session upon his return, and the Braves will determine how to move forward.
Before leaving for Brazil, Gohara made his first start of the season against the Phillies on May 23. He allowed two runs, striking out six and walking four in four innings.
Gohara made three relief appearances before the start. Snitker is unsure how the team will use him moving forward, and much of that will depend on how he looks after over a week’s absence.
“I don’t know that we’ll do that (rotation) or put him back in bullpen,” Snitker said. “We’ll wait and see. It’d be tough right now to throw a bullpen, start a game. He’ll need to work back up again after being off for eight, nine days, whatever it’s going to be.
“We’re going to wait until we see him and go from there. I want (pitching coach) Chuck (Hernandez) and (bullpen coach) Marty (Reed) to put him through the paces throwing a bullpen first.”
