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Atlanta Braves: Mike Soroka likely to just miss on multiple awards

By Alan Carpenter

WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 13: Mike Soroka #40 of the Atlanta Braves pitches against the Washington Nationals during the first inning at Nationals Park on September 13, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - SEPTEMBER 13: Mike Soroka #40 of the Atlanta Braves pitches against the Washington Nationals during the first inning at Nationals Park on September 13, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images) /
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Atlanta Braves Mike Soroka
ATLANTA, GA – AUGUST 16: Mike Soroka #40 of the Atlanta Braves throws a second inning pitch against the Los Angeles Dodgers at SunTrust Park on August 16, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images) /

It’s been a really great season for Mike Soroka, but circumstances will almost certainly leave the Atlanta Braves rookie going home without any extra hardware in his luggage.

Mike Soroka certainly has performance credentials that make him deserving of the NL Rookie of the Year award. An Atlanta Braves player (Ronald Acuna Jr. won that trophy 10 months ago, but there probably won’t be a team defense of that title.

Soroka probably also has an arguable claim to the Cy Young award as best National League pitcher. He almost certainly won’t get that nod either.

What’s worse – in some regards – is that both will go to New York Mets:  Pete Alonso and Jacob deGrom, respectively.

I had the occasion to listen to a Mets radio broadcast a couple of days ago when the Cy Young discussion came up and it the view of those analysts, it was essentially a foregone conclusion that deGrom had risen up and snagged the CY trophy.  From their perspective, it was now inevitable.

Unfortunately, they’re probably right.

As for the Rookie of the Year award, homers are just sexier than going out every 5th day and taking care of business.  Even in a juiced ball season.

Add to this the fact that a strong plurality (if not outright majority) of the voting writers in the BBWAA are from a region East of the Mississippi River and North of Washington, D.C… representing the major media markets of the Northeast US.

If these pitchers were flipped in their team associations, it would be very interesting to see the BBWAA voting breakdown.

He really doesn’t have much of a chance in a multi-horse race.

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