The Braves made 10 roster moves Friday, including the reassignment of several top prospects to minor league camp. That group was led by impressive pitcher Mike Soroka and outfielder Cristian Pache.
The team optioned left-handers Jesse Biddle to Triple-A Gwinnett and Adam McCreery and Ricardo Sanchez to Double-A Mississippi. Besides Soroka and Pache, others reassigned to minor league camp were lefties Kolby Allard and Philip Pfeifer, infielder Ray-Patrick Didder and catchers Kade Scivicque and Tyler Marlette.
Several of the pitchers have impressed enough to put themselves in position for possible call-ups, including relievers Biddle and McCreery and especially Soroka, who had a strong showing in Double-A last season and opened more eyes the past few weeks in big-league camp.
He’s only 20 but could make his debut in the Braves’ starting rotation in September or perhaps even sooner.
“Man, you talk about a kid in his first camp, coming in here really impressive,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said of Soroka. “Performance, makeup, he’s the whole package. Awareness. He’s going to be a young big-leaguer, there’s no doubt. It’s just going to be a matter of time. Get him some starts in Triple-A, and if he does what we think he’s going to do, then shoot, it’s just a matter of time with him.”
Veteran catcher Tyler Flowers caught one of Soroka’s first bullpen sessions in camp and knew right away this wasn’t an ordinary prospect.
“He’s got some stuff to work with -- gifted stuff, special stuff,” Flowers said. “He seems to be extremely mature, too. I didn’t realize he was as young as he was. Just the way he communicates, talks, you would think he was, like, 27.
“I think that’ll be big for him to at least get opportunities quickly. Seems like a lot of teams are scared the non-mature young guys, you know? So I think that’ll help his chances.
Soroka pitched in three Grapefruit League games and allowed just two hits and one run with no walks and strikeouts in five innings.
“He’s got electric stuff,” Flowers said. “Not crazy stuff on the radar gun, but I tell you, catching him? It’s some stuff. It’s some life, it’s late, it’s hard. His change-up, the first time he threw it to me in live BP, I swore out of his hand it was a fastball. Like, oh man, he forgot he called change-up, you know? And then it just (Flowers makes deceleration sound) floated in there. That’s a change-up, that’s a good one.
“And this, his slider has hard, late tilt on it; it’s more an old-school slider I would say, with the depth. Whereas it seems like more today people about sliders that sweep a little bit more. His is more of that sharp, fastball downer. And his sinker, when he throws it right it’s a legit swing-and-miss sinker.”
None of the moves was surprising. Minor league camp opened this week and pitching prospects need to get innings, which are becoming increasingly difficult to get in major league spring-training games as starters go deeper and the Braves seek to work the relievers competing for opening-day bullpen spots.
Also, position players not competing for spots on the opening-day roster, such as 19-year-old prospect Pache, need to join the teams they’ll start the season with and get regular at-bats now that Braves lineup regulars are starting to play more with the major league season to begin in less than three weeks.
