The youthful Braves just got even younger by calling up top pitching prospect Mike Soroka from Triple-A to make his major league debut Tuesday night in a start against the Mets at Citi Field. The 20-year-old Canadian will be the youngest current pitcher in the majors.
“The way he carries himself – it’s not arrogant, but confident,” Braves catcher Kurt Suzuki said a few hours before Tuesday’s game. “How he goes about his business, his routine is pretty incredible for how young he is. The kid’s got it.”
Braves manager Brian Snitker said, “He showed the maturity and the whole thing in spring training, and everybody that’s had him over the years in the minor leagues says the say thing – just a really impressive young man.”
The move means the Braves have the three youngest players in the majors on their 25-man roster, as Soroka is four months older than outfield phenom Ronald Acuna and seven months younger than second baseman Ozzie Albies.
“It makes it fun here,” Snitker said. “It’s like you can’t wait to get to the ballpark and watch these guys play. That’s what they do to you.”
Acuna, baseball’s consensus No. 1 prospect, was called up from Triple-A last week and has been sensational in his first five games, batting batting .421 with eight hits including four doubles and a home run and posting a .500 on-base percentage. Albies is playing like an MVP candidate.
“To a man, I think they all have a lot of confidence in their abilities and where they’re at,” Snitker said. “It’ll be fun for them. A lot of these guys have come up together and competed together. It’s fun for all of them when they get the call. It’ll be exciting to watch.”
Soroka, rated 27th in Baseball America’s preseason Top 100 prospects, is 2-0 with a 1.99 ERA in four starts in Triple-A, with 24 strikeouts, five walks and no home runs allowed in 22-2/3 innings. He becomes the first player drafted out of high school in 2015 to make it to the majors.
Catchers, coaches and managers throughout the Braves organization most often used two adjectives to describe Soroka: Polished and mature.
“That’s kind of the thing that sets him apart, and why he was so intriguing (at spring training),” Snitker said. “It didn’t matter the competition. I remember we took him over to Dunedin and he pitched against the Blue Jays, his home country team. And didn’t disappoint. Just very mature kid in how he goes about it, how he carries himself. And it’s a great opportunity for him.”
Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos had said in a recent interview that the 6-foot-5 Soroka was “very, very close” to being ready, and Suzuki agreed that was apparent at spring training.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Suzuki said. “You could see, the stuff’s there. His work ethic, his routine, how he goes about his business -- there’s no reason why he’s not going to be good.”
Starting Soroka on Tuesday will allow the Braves to give young left-hander Sean Newcomb and Julio Teheran an extra day of rest but the Braves aren’t intending to keep Soroka in the rotation permanently just yet.
That doesn’t mean he might not be kept around to make at least one more start.
Teheran left his last start Friday in Philadelphia after three innings due to tightness in the upper right trapezius muscle behind his shoulder. Snitker reiterated Tuesday that Teheran feels good and will start Thursday’s series finale against the Mets. Newcomb will start Wednesday.
Snitker said they haven’t decided yet who’ll start Sunday against the Giants, a spot that might be filled by Anibal Sanchez, if the Braves are convinced he’s healthy.
Sanchez has been out since straining a hamstring April 18 and was tentatively scheduled to come off the disabled list Sunday and start against the Giants without making a minor-league rehab start. Snitker said Sanchez pitched well Tuesday afternoon in a four-inning simulated game at Citi Field, but they want to see how he feels the day after that work and also how he handles fielding drills and more running Wednesday before a firm decision on Sunday.
The Braves don’t have a timetable yet for the arrival of rookie lefty Luiz Gohara, who was penciled in for a rotation spot entering spring training, then injured his groin and sprained an ankle, the latter injury forcing him to miss the entire Grapefruit League schedule. He’s struggled in his rehab starts and was optioned to Triple-A a few days ago after his rehab stint expired.
Soroka was scratched from his scheduled start Sunday at Triple-A Gwinnett so the Braves would have an option in case Teheran or Sanchez weren’t ready to go this week.
Soroka, who has pinpoint control to go with the intelligence and maturity everyone talks about, made a terrific impression on Braves players and coaches as well as opposing hitters during spring training, pitching in three Grapefruit League games and allowing two hits and one run with no walks and five strikeouts in five innings before being sent to minor league camp to get starts.
A first-round draft pick three years ago out of high school in Calgary, Canada, Soroka is 22-19 with a 3.44 ERA in 65 minor league games (63 starts), including 11-8 with a 3.40 ERA in 26 starts last season at Double-A Mississippi in his first year above Single-A ball. He had 125 strikeouts and 34 walks in 153-2/3 innings at Mississippi.
“If I was going to say he’s probably the least nervous of these (up-and-coming) guys, probably less nervous than I was,” Newcomb said. “He’s an in-control person and I think he’s going to continue that. I know he’s got me here, Max (Fried) and people he’s really familiar with to kind of lean on too if he has questions.”
As for Soroka’s pitches, Newcomb said, “His stuff definitely can be overpowering just by the way he pitches. He knows how to use his off-speed already, which is huge, something I definitely wasn’t doing at 20. And he can still run it up there at 94, 95, even more probably. I think he’s more of a down pitcher, get the ground ball, but he’s still got the power. He’s a horse.”
