How This Former Atlanta Braves Pitcher Saved His Career

Michael Soroka quickly won over Atlanta Braves fans with his dominant rookie campaign in 2019. Unfortunately, that dominance was cut short far too soon when Soroka tore his Achilles tendon during the 2020 season.

The young Canadian then suffered a long series of devastating injuries. The road back was long and difficult, but Braves fans finally saw the young right-hander return to the mound last year in Oakland. However, Soroka was not the same as before, and his 6.40 ERA During the 2023 season, he was unable to relocate to Atlanta.

This is how the 26-year-old Canadian experienced a change. Soroka was part of a six-player contract that sent him to Chicago to play for the rebuilding White Sox. It was thought that a change of scenery was needed for Soroka, and something that could perhaps get him back to being the pitcher he once was.

Unfortunately, it was only more adversity for Soroka as he was often hit hard in his 2024 debut. Soroka received the ball nine times as a starter to start the year, and he allowed a horrendous score. .251/.347/.509 He finished with a 6.39 ERA. However, a role change might have been the change needed to keep Michael Soroka in the major leagues.

On May 18, against the New York Yankees, Soroka made his first appearance in the bullpen for the Chicago White Sox. On this day, he would pitch four innings of seven strikeout baseball games. Since that day, Soroka has made eight more relief appearances.

Five of those bullpen outings were multi-inning outings. And while not every outing was perfect, the numbers show that Michael Soroka’s move to the bullpen has made him a different pitcher.

As a reliever, Soroka cut that horrible slant line mentioned earlier to .200/.333/.307. His ERA as a reliever fell to 3.54. Soroka also saw a decline in his FIP (6.75 as a starter to 3.35 as a reliever) and wOBA (0.368 as a starter to 0.296 as a reliever).

The biggest improvement for Soroka has been the increase in his strikeout percentage. As a starter, Soroka had a strikeout percentage of 12.4. Out of the bullpen, Soroka has an impressive 37.6 strikeout percentage. This can be attributed to the increase in velocity in these shorter outings.

In the meantime, Soroka has changed his pitching style. Braves fans know him as a sinkerball specialist in his prime. However, this season, Soroka has significantly reduced his sinkerball usage and increased his slider and four-seamer.

And for good reason, opponents are hitting under .200 against Soroka’s slider this season via Baseball Savant. The slight increase in speed has also allowed his four-seamer to play much better out of the pen. From there, Soroka still needs to work on his BB% (15.1% as a reliever) in order to become a major weapon out of the bullpen.

However, that move to the bullpen may have just been punctuated by Soroka’s 3 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 7 K performance against the mighty Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday. While his season numbers may not inspire many at first glance, Braves fans can feel good about their 2015 first-round pick because they know his resilience has finally shone through. And all it took was a move to Chicago’s bullpen.