Braves, Soroka avoid arbitration with one-year deal

NORTH PORT, Fla. -- Mike Soroka avoided an arbitration hearing when he and the Braves agreed to a one-year, $2.8 million deal on Thursday.

Soroka’s 2022 salary is identical to the one he received as he spent all of the 2021 season on the injured list. The Canadian right-hander debuted on May 1, 2018. But he has totaled just 37 starts (214 innings) during his injury-plagued career. He made 29 of those starts while posting a 2.68 ERA for the Braves in 2019, when he finished second for the NL Rookie of the Year Award and sixth for the NL Cy Young Award.

Soroka tore right Achilles tendon on Aug. 3, 2020, and again on July 24, 2021, while attempting to recover from the first tear. The 24-year-old will definitely miss the first half of this season. But the primary questions are whether he will pitch again, and whether he will be physically capable to be as successful as he was in 2019.

While a timetable hasn’t been set for Soroka’s return, going back to last year’s second surgery, there has been hope he might pitch again during the second half of the upcoming season.

“I think we are all in agreement it might take time to get that last bit of elasticity and that last bit of strength back,” Soroka said. “But everything has gone well. I’m happy.”