Ronald Acuna isn’t the only Atlanta Braves rookie who make his MLB debut this season. Per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, pitcher Mike Soroka will make his debut against the Mets at Citi Field.
“MLB Pipeline ranks Soroka as baseball’s 30th-best prospect and the third-best prospect in the Braves’ system, sitting behind outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. and right-handed pitcher Kyle Wright,” Bowman wrote. “The 20-year-old Canadian hurler posted a 1.99 ERA as he totaled 22 2/3 innings over four starts for Triple-A Gwinnett this year.”
Soroka is a handful of Atlanta Braves minor league pitching prospects who could give the team its best rotation since the mid-1990s with Tom Glavine, Greg Maddox, and John Smoltz. The move also means Sean Newcomb and Julio Teheran will have more time to rest before they take the mound to close out the last two games of the series in New York.
As Bowman points out, “With Soroka’s promotion, Atlanta has the three youngest players in baseball: Acuna (20 years, 134 days old), [Mike] Soroka (20 years, 270 days) and Ozzie Albies (21 years, 114 days).”
He pitched for the junior national team, coached by Chris Reitsma. Mike Soroka committed to play college baseball for the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to the 2015 draft, he was ranked 88th in Baseball America’s annual rankings of prospects.
After being drafted and signed by the Braves in the first round of the 2015 MLB Draft (28th overall), he reported to the GCL Braves, where he posted a 1.80 ERA in ten innings pitched. Soroka spent the 2016 season with the Rome Braves. There, he posted a 9-9 record with a 3.02 ERA.
Soroka spent 2017 with the Mississippi Braves, posting an 11-8 record with a 2.75 ERA in 153.2 innings pitched. As one of the youngest players in Double-A, Soroka participated in the All-Star Futures Game in July. I had the chance to see him pitch against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. At 6-foot-5 and 225 pounds, he is an imposing figure on the mound with his fastball.
Soroka began the 2018 season with the Gwinnett Stripers of the Class AAA International League before being called up to the MLB roster.