Braves transfer rookie starter Mike Soroka to 60-day disabled list
Major League Baseball's youngest starter will not throw a pitch for at least a month as he heads for a long-term stint on the disabled list.
Braves rookie Mike Soroka was transferred to the 60-day DL on Wednesday morning in order to give him additional time to recover from right shoulder inflammation.
"He just needs to rest," Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos said. "It was very similar to last time. Just now the fact that it's been a reoccurrence it just felt like, 'Give it more time to heal, more time to rest.'"
The plan is for the 20-year-old Soroka to start throwing again in approximately four weeks, but Anthopoulos said the Braves plan to reevaluate the shoulder in a few weeks.
In his previous trip to the disabled list, Soroka did not throw for two weeks. He made two starts following his return to the rotation on June 13 — no-hitting the Mets through six innings and pitching in his home country against the Blue Jays — but Soroka noted a dip in velocity in Toronto that resulted in him being shut down for the second time.
"Because he's a starter you know that the longer you're off of throwing you're basically starting from scratch to build up again and build up the innings. So unless they tell he's going to be down from throwing for a week or 10 days, you realize if it's going to be a few weeks of no throw then you're starting over again. All the work you did to build up, you lose that."
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In five starts for the major-league club, Soroka owns a 3.51 ERA and 2.79 fielding-independent pitching through 25 2/3 innings pitched. He's only allowed one home run over that stretch while striking out 21 batters. In terms of overall value, Soroka trails only Mike Foltynewicz and Sean Newcomb in wins above replacement among Atlanta starters despite limited playing time.
