Tomahawk Take’s Top 20 Atlanta Braves Prospects: #15-11

Tomahawk Take’s Top Atlanta Braves Prospects #15 Mike Soroka

– by Philip Tapley, Tomahawk Take Staff Writer

Who He Is

RHP Mike Soroka was the 28th overall pick for the Braves in 2015. He stands at between 6’4 and 6’5 depending on the source, and weighs in at what we’ll call approximately 200 lbs. Soroka projects to add a lot of strength to his young frame; the Alberta, Canada product is still only 18 years old after his first professional season, after all. Soroka’s Canadian background led to a certain degree of surprise at the Braves taking the righty so early, as many MLB sources were not well versed in the righty’s exploits. However, his talents have been well thought of for several years in more northern-reaching baseball circles. Soroka came into the 2015 Draft already featuring a fastball that topped out in the mid-nineties, and a curve with plus action to boot.

The scouting consensus on Soroka is that he is a guy with an obviously plus arm, and with a curve and change that should play well at the big league level once he has improved command and feel for them. Soroka himself has stated that improving his change up is a top priority for him. He regularly receives 50-60 grades on all three of his offerings, which along with his body frame projects well for a future role in the Braves’ starting rotation. Scouts and coaching staff have raved about Soroka’s mental makeup and work ethic, as well. The only knock that seems to surface about his game is that his slightly closed off, three-quarters delivery may put hazardous stress on his arm during deceleration. From my eyes, he carries an adequately fluid motion and generates velocity with easy effort.

His 2015

Soroka’s 2015 saw him succeed at both levels of rookie ball that he encountered. He averaged more that a strikeout per inning in 35 frames of work over 10 appearances. The righty posted an ERA of 3.18 over that period, but his FIP was a full point lower in the small sample. Soroka’s was likely unlucky as batters enjoyed a .384 BABIP during his initial stint in the Gulf Coast League. His walk rates were very low, leading to a very encouraging rate of 7.4 strikeouts per walk issued over his 35 innings.

2016 Projection and Future

Look for Soroka to begin his 2016 season making strides in the competition for the starting rotation for single-A Rome. Given his age, it will be interesting to see how the Canadian and fellow 18 year-old Brave and 2015 top pick Kolby Allard progress together. The most aggressive projections would give a healthy Soroka and Allard a shot at an initial call up during the 2018 season. 2019 is more realistic, but given Soroka’s rave reviews across the board in terms of physical build, raw stuff, and intangibles, we shouldn’t bet against him. The pride of Alberta has been exceeding expectations thus far.

Next: Prospect Number 14