When the Washington Nationals signed former Atlanta Braves' star Michael Soroka to a one-year deal over the offseason, they were banking on the injury riddled righty to finally get back to his previous form at the MLB level.
The Canadian native showed some promise in spring training, but was ultimately forced back on the 15-day IL after his first start of the regular season due to a strained bicep.
After his most recent rehab start with Triple-A Rochester on Friday night though, Washington may finally be on the verge of getting an extended look at Soroka against MLB batters.
Across his five innings of work against the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, Soroka was dominant. He struck out 11 batters, while allowing just one run on four hits, and three walks. This impressive showing followed up his previous start on Tuesday at the Double-A level, where he fired 4.2 solid innings.
Quite an impressive rehab start for Michael Soroka tonight in Rochester: 5 innings of 1-run ball on 94 pitches with 11 strikeouts. Hard to believe the Nats will think he needs any more after that.
— Mark Zuckerman (@MarkZuckerman) May 2, 2025
Soroka had stated after his first rehab assignment that he felt like he was ready to get back to the big league club, but the Nationals ultimately decided to give him one more start just to be safe. Now with two dominant starts under his belt though, it's hard to imagine the team needs to see much more.
The former All Star selection would offer immediate reinforcements to a starting rotation that is in desperate need of it as well. Outside of the team's ace in McKenzie Gore, the team has struggled to find any sort of consistency on the bump.
Bringing up Soroka would, at the very least, offer manger Davey Martinez the opportunity to see if Soroka can make some what of impact for the club. It would also offer some relief to the rest of the rotation, who have had to carry the extra burden while Soroka was rehabbing.
It will be very interesting to see how Washington decides to move forward with Soroka, and whether or not he's capable of carving out a consistent role every fifth day on the mound. Regardless of what happens though, it will also just be nice to see a player who has had to overcome so much in recent years finally catch a break.
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