Five things about the Braves’ youth movement, which reached another level Tuesday when 20-year-old Mike Soroka was called up from Triple-A to make his major league debut with a start against the Mets at Citi Field.
1. The move gave the Braves the three youngest players in the majors on their 25-man roster, and all three were in the lineup Tuesday with Ozzie Albies (21 years, 114 days) batting leadoff, Ronald Acuna (20 years, 134 days) hitting second and Soroka (20 years, 270 days) hitting eighth.
2. The last team to have the majors' three youngest players on its roster was the Texas Rangers on June 7, 2015, when they had Joey Gallo, Keone Kela and Hanser Alberto.
3. The last team to have three players as young or younger than Albies in their starting lineup was also the Braves, four decades ago: Third baseman Bob Horner, second baseman Glenn Hubbard and center fielder Eddie Miller were in the lineup for a 2-1 loss to Cincinnati on Sept. 24, 1978.
4. The last team to have two players younger than 21 in the same lineup was the Mets with shortstop Ruben Tejada and pitcher Jenrry Mejia on Sept. 15, 2010.
5. Soroka was the youngest Braves pitcher to make his major league debut in a start since Julio Teheran (20 years, 100 days) on May 7, 2011. In the Braves' Atlanta era (since 1966), only five starting pitchers have debuted at a younger age than Soroka and only two were before September: Charlie Vaughan (18 years, 332 days) on Sept. 3, 1966; Mike McQueen (19 years, 33 days) on Oct. 2, 1969; Steve Avery (20 years, 60 days) on June 13, 1990; Teheran, and Al Santorini (20 years, 114 days) on Sept. 10, 1968
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