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Mike Soroka’s time is now for the Atlanta Braves

By James Kunkle

SAN DIEGO, CA - JULY 14: Mike Soroka #40 of the Atlanta Braves pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on July 14, 2019 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO, CA - JULY 14: Mike Soroka #40 of the Atlanta Braves pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park on July 14, 2019 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images) /
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Mike Soroka is the main guy for the Atlanta Braves as far as pitching goes.

The Atlanta Braves are lucky enough to have a plethora of young abundant pitching, but it’s already quite obvious that young Canadian Mike Soroka is the guy that will be called upon the most, especially in the upcoming abbreviated 2020 season.

It does not matter one bit that he is still only 22 years of age, the Atlanta Braves have already announced he will take the ball Friday against the New York Mets on Opening Day, and in doing so, will be the youngest Braves Opening Day starter in the modern era and also the youngest Opening Day starter since Jose Fernandez did the same for the Marlins in 2014.

Nothing thus far has fazed the young righty, so no one should expect anything to now. It also does not matter that the start will be on the road because of two things.

  • No fans will be in attendance
  • Mike Soroka was better on the road last year anyways

Remember, when you were a kid, you probably liked road trips too.

The one question will be how long do the Atlanta Braves let him go. It seems as if they are planning on him throwing around 80 pitches for the first few games to start the season off.

Last year, we were all starting to realize that the Atlanta Braves had something good brewing with the pairing of Mike Soroka and Max Fried. Both pitched to outstanding results, but here’s where it gets to become a little unfair.

We are probably going to need more from BOTH pitchers in this season.

We have gone over it a few times already, but it is obvious the east is going to be no cakewalk. Considering that, it stands to reason that both Soroka and Fried will be matched up with Gerrit Cole, Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Blake Snell, Patrick Corbin, Aaron Nola, and Jacob deGrom all year. So with that being said, it’s easy to see why we are going to need their best day in and day out.

In almost any other year, Mike Soroka would have been a shoo-in for the Rookie of the Year, but some guy named Pete Alonso did what he did.

However, it’s still remarkable that at 21, Soroka was able to still finish SIXTH in the Cy Young voting race.

If he is indeed able to bump up his stats a tiny bit, he could not only finish top 5 in the category, he could perhaps win the thing.

As mentioned earlier, the Atlanta Braves have a ton of young pitching and hopefully it all works out, but Mike Soroka is probably in the next wave of young great NL pitchers with Walker Buehler, Jack Flaherty, and Luis Castillo.

Maybe in a few years, we will look back and wonder how that many teams passed on Soroka much like we do with Mike Trout now.

Next. Speaking of Fried. dark

So sit back and enjoy the ride that Mike Soroka and the Atlanta Braves are hopefully about to take us on in 2020.

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