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Mike Soroka has long been expected to shoulder a heavy load for a Braves team that has real aspirations this season and beyond. After a strong rookie campaign that saw him win second place in the NL ROY voting and get his fair share of Cy Young votes in 2019, many expected great things from the young right-hander this season. Through the season’s first two starts from him, he had lived up to that with a 1.59 ERA and a WHIP south of 1.
Unfortunately, his third start did not go well...not at all.
Soroka landed awkwardly after that last pitch. He's being helped off the field.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) August 3, 2020
I hate to speculate about Mike Soroka's injury, but I remember Jason Grilli's blown Achilles in 2015 and this seemed eerily similar.
— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) August 4, 2020
Soroka landed awkwardly on a pitch in the third inning and immediately went down in a heap. Unable to leave the field on his own, he was helped off the field and, if we are being honest, that is never a good sign when it comes to knee, ankle, foot, or leg injuries.
Now, it is worth mentioning that we don’t know for sure what Soroka’s injury is, but the vast preponderance of folks who have seen injuries like this seem to believe its a severe Achilles injury which would be a gut punch both for a young pitcher on the verge of stardom as well as an organization that already has its fair share of starting pitching woes.
Chris Rusin has since come in to relieve Soroka and we will update you all on Mike’s status as this story develops.