Washington Nationals right hander Michael Soroka fired three scoreless innings yesterday, allowing just one walk while striking out three. This marked the first start of the spring for the Calgary, Alberta native, as he looks to make an impact for a rebuilding Nats team.

Few pitchers have endured the kind of injury bad luck that Soroka has over his career. After becoming the youngest Opening Day starter in Atlanta Braves history in 2020, the six-foot-three right-hander made the All-Star team and appeared to be on his way to becoming a front of the rotation starter for years to come. In August of that year, he had an Achilles injury that prematurely ended his season. Unfortunately, that was just the beginning of his injury woes.
After rehabbing over the next ten months, Soroka suffered a complete re-tear of his Achilles, ultimately knocking him out for the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The former first round pick made it back up to Atlanta in May of 2023, before forearm inflammation shut him down for the rest of the season in early September.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Michael Soroka fired off 3 scoreless today as he gave us a glimpse of his stuff as he transitions back into being a starter
His velocity was up a tick and his slider exhibited much more depth and sweep than usual. I think it might be considered a slurve now! <a href="https://t.co/kjG6JGVCRu">pic.twitter.com/kjG6JGVCRu</a>
&mdash; Thomas Nestico (@TJStats) <a href="https://twitter.com/TJStats/status/1895918481025220740?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 1, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
After an offseason trade, Soroka spent the 2024 season with the lowly White Sox, going 0-10 with a 4.74 ERA over 79 2/3 innings. Although he was able to return to health, he earned the dubious honour of suffering the most losses by a pitcher without a victory since Terry Felton of the 1982 Minnesota Twins went 0-13.
However, there was a silver lining with Soroka&#8217;s 2024 season: he performed dramatically better coming out of the bullpen compared to as a starter. He produced a 2.75 ERA in 16 relief appearances, striking out a whopping 60 batters in just 36 innings. His stuff clearly played up in shorter outings, as he was only able to punch out 24 over 43 2/3 innings as a starter.
The elite relief numbers helped the Canadian righty earn a one-year, $9 million free agent deal with the Nationals, where he was expected to hold a bulk relief role. Yesterday&#8217;s start may indicate that the Nationals plan to move him back into the rotation to start the year. Soroka averaged just over two innings per relief appearance in 2024, and could easily be used both as a starter and reliever this season.
If Saturday&#8217;s debut is any indication, Soroka is poised to be a weapon for the Nationals in 2025, which could make him a trade deadline asset come July.
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Washington Nationals right hander Michael Soroka fired three scoreless innings yesterday, allowing just one walk while striking out three. This marked the first start of the spring for the Calgary, Alberta native, as he looks to make an impact for a rebuilding Nats team.



Few pitchers have endured the kind of injury bad luck that Soroka has over his career. After becoming the youngest Opening Day starter in Atlanta Braves history in 2020, the six-foot-three right-hander made the All-Star team and appeared to be on his way to becoming a front of the rotation starter for years to come. In August of that year, he had an Achilles injury that prematurely ended his season. Unfortunately, that was just the beginning of his injury woes.

After rehabbing over the next ten months, Soroka suffered a complete re-tear of his Achilles, ultimately knocking him out for the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The former first round pick made it back up to Atlanta in May of 2023, before forearm inflammation shut him down for the rest of the season in early September.

https://twitter.com/TJStats/status/1895918481025220740

After an offseason trade, Soroka spent the 2024 season with the lowly White Sox, going 0-10 with a 4.74 ERA over 79 2/3 innings. Although he was able to return to health, he earned the dubious honour of suffering the most losses by a pitcher without a victory since Terry Felton of the 1982 Minnesota Twins went 0-13.

However, there was a silver lining with Soroka's 2024 season: he performed dramatically better coming out of the bullpen compared to as a starter. He produced a 2.75 ERA in 16 relief appearances, striking out a whopping 60 batters in just 36 innings. His stuff clearly played up in shorter outings, as he was only able to punch out 24 over 43 2/3 innings as a starter.

The elite relief numbers helped the Canadian righty earn a one-year, $9 million free agent deal with the Nationals, where he was expected to hold a bulk relief role. Yesterday's start may indicate that the Nationals plan to move him back into the rotation to start the year. Soroka averaged just over two innings per relief appearance in 2024, and could easily be used both as a starter and reliever this season.

If Saturday's debut is any indication, Soroka is poised to be a weapon for the Nationals in 2025, which could make him a trade deadline asset come July.

<a href="https://betway.com/en/sports/grp/baseball/usa/mlb">All Toronto Blue Jays odds are brought to you by MLB betting site Betway</a>!

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Canadian pitcher Michael Soroka dominates in first spring start for the Washington Nationals

Kansas City Royals shortstop Bobby Witt Jr. (7) hits an RBI single against the Toronto Blue Jays during the sixth inning at Rogers Centre.

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