Signed to a one-year, $7.5 million flier, he is 2\u20130 with a 0.90 ERA and the nastiest, what-the-heck-is-that Frisbee of a breaking ball since Corey Kluber. It defies definition, if not the known laws of physics.<\/p>\n
Trial and error<\/p>\n
Perseverance is rewarded. But it\u2019s not just the story of working hard. Soroka had done enough of that, and it got him nowhere, or more specifically, a one-way ticket from the Atlanta Braves to Triple A Gwinnett. No, this also is the story of working smarter, about how if you find the right trainers, the right teachers, the right doctors and the right technology, you can reinvent yourself as a pitcher. Like Charlie Morton, Roy Halladay and Jake Arrieta, only with more modern technology, Soroka is proof that pitching careers can be saved if you dare to change just about everything.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, there are so many layers to the cake, right?\u201d Soroka says. \u201cPeople see these last couple of things kind of come together and they assume it\u2019s just one puzzle piece that finally fit. But they didn\u2019t see all the other stuff going into it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was difficult. There were a lot of people that helped me along the way … a training group, lots of medical people … it\u2019s a group effort, really. And I\u2019m not done making progress. You never are, in any sort of way. And that\u2019s part of this thing that I learned to love\u2014that I\u2019m always going to be addicted to making progress one way or another. Now that\u2019s best served by getting to know how to truly pitch again and exploit hitters\u2019 weaknesses and use the new tools that I have.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a lot of trial and error. Obviously, looking back on it, I think I could have done it in a quarter of the time knowing what I know now. But it\u2019s the mistakes you learn from.\u201d<\/p>\n
The worst of it emotionally was when Soroka tore his Achilles in 2020 and re-tore it 10 months later. But the moment that changed him as a pitcher happened June 4, 2023, when the Diamondbacks rocked him for five runs on seven hits in less than four innings. After the game the Braves sent him and his 8.38 ERA to Gwinnett.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got my ass handed to me by the Diamondbacks and got sent down,\u201d he says. \u201cRight then and there I just realized my stuff wasn\u2019t playing. Command wasn\u2019t great. Wasn\u2019t missing bats. I just felt like I was working really, really, really hard to get not great results.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I immediately then dove into what I thought I needed to do and kind of just put aside immediate performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soroka told the Braves about his \u201ctrial and error\u201d plan. The idea was to try new methods and pitches without worrying about the results that a pitcher traditionally would need to climb back to the majors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd the Braves were supportive of that,\u201d Soroka says. \u201c[President Alex] Anthopolous was always supportive, saying, \u2018Listen, I believe you can figure it out one day.\u2019 That was great to hear. And the two pitching guys over there, Craig Bjornson and Paul Davis, helped me a ton.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust saying, \u2018It\u2019s okay. We\u2019re going to try this next start,\u2019 or \u2018We\u2019re going to try this next bullpen and see how it feels. We\u2019re going to explore things.\u2019 The reality is guys get a chance to do that in instructs and in fall ball and in their universities and offseasons, whereas on this level it\u2019s hard.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was always the battle of, \u2018Okay, do I go to what\u2019s comfortable and just try to perform, or do I try to make a change to play this game for as long as I can?\u2019 The hope is you change to have better stuff and better command and better ability to stay healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Atlanta](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01knqc7kvng4bd0ex0v5.jpg\" "\\"Atlanta")
<\/p>\n
Soroka pitches for the Braves against the Diamondbacks on June 4, 2023, his last start before committing to changing the way he pitched. | Joseph Rondone-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
In the 2023\u201324 offseason the Braves traded Soroka to the White Sox. He sought help from Bob Keyes of Biokinetics 3D. He started to learn new movement patterns on the mound.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople are going to say, \u2018Oh, well, you had so much success doing it the way you were doing it,\u2019\u201d Soroka says. \u201cBut the reality was I was a 21-year-old that hurt all the time and had some big injuries. So, I also knew there was more in there athletically. I was watching myself and thinking, you know, I\u2019m working way too hard for 91 [mph].\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, the ball\u2019s sinking. But really, if you go back and watch the reason I had success it was location and secondary stuff. I\u2019ve always been able to spin it. That never changed, no matter how I threw.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is a video on YouTube of a 16-year-old Soroka pitching at the Area Code Games, an amateur showcase of top talent. He is slinging the ball from a low arm slot, his natural slot.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cAnd then over the years, it just climbed and climbed and climbed,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sinkerball pitchers traditionally are taught to \u201cget on top of the ball\u201d and throw over their front leg with a short stride. But the higher arm slot stressed his shoulder and reduced his real superpower, the ability to get around the baseball with rotational force to spin it, like the superpower Arrieta found with the Cubs.<\/p>\n
Keyes and the folks at Biokinetics 3D worked with Soroka on moving more efficiently. He kept the ball in his glove longer, sunk deeper into his back leg, deployed a more \u201cdrop-and-drive\u201d force from his lower half instead of the more upright traditional sinker methodology and lowered his arm angle to a slot that felt more natural. He transmogrified his tight slider into a hellacious slurve. He was reborn as a breaking ball pitcher with one of the 10 most off-set deliveries of any right-handed starter (30 inches to the third base side of mid-rubber), joining the likes of elite slingers such as Nolan McLean and Paul Skenes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of went backward a little bit at the beginning of \u201924,\u201d Soroka says, \u201cand then I was sent to the bullpen with the White Sox. That\u2019s when I became really, really stubborn with [the new delivery] and decided, \u2018This is the way I\u2019m gonna go. And if anybody wants to help me, I\u2019m welcoming them. Anybody that says, \u2018It\u2019s not gonna work\u2019? I don\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n
He went 0\u201310 in 2024 for the 121-loss White Sox team, joining Steve Gerkin (0\u201312) of the 1942 A\u2019s and Terry Felton (0\u201313) of the 1982 Twins as the only winless AL pitchers with double-digit losses. He signed with Washington for the 2025 season and posted the best strikeout rate of his career (9.6 per nine) but was battered the third time he tried to work through lineups (1.041 OPS). The Nationals traded him to the Cubs, who received only 8 1\/3 innings from him before another shoulder injury sidelined him. But two months in Chicago allowed Soroka to work with Tyler Zombro, a Cubs special assistant.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was really big for me,\u201d Soroka says, \u201cin learning exactly where I can be at my best right now. A lot of what he talked about was the ability to rotate and still be somewhat vertical through release\u2014to have the ability to throw anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Chicago](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/01knqcf367etcsr7w3tg.jpg\" "\\"Chicago")
<\/p>\n
Soroka\u2019s time with the Cubs last year was brief, though he did start Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Brewers. | Jovanny Hernandez \/ Milwaukee Journal Sentinel \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n
An adaptation to the modern age<\/p>\n
The young 21-year-old upright, sinkerball pitcher has grown into a Kluber-type sharpshooter who from a low arm slot can make the baseball move in four directions on both sides of the plate. In order of usage, he has a slurve that breaks violently glove side, a four-seamer with ride up, a changeup that drops, a sinker that runs arm side and a cutter, a new pitch this year, that breaks short and late glove side. In his pocket he has a gyro spin slider and a sweeper that he hasn\u2019t deployed yet.<\/p>\n
![\"Mike](\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_0,h_0\/c_fill,w_16,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/voltaxMediaLibrary\/mmsport\/si\/01knqb3czthxgyrhtc26.png\" "\\"Mike")
<\/p>\n
Statcast<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you look at the best starting pitchers in baseball now, for the most part, they have at least five pitches,\u201d Soroka says. \u201cEven somebody like [Garrett] Crochet. I\u2019m amazed how much he\u2019s changed. Everybody\u2019s doing this. You have to make the ball move four different ways.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back in 2019, Soroka threw his sinker 45% of the time. Hitters pounded it into the ground. But the effectiveness of a bread-and-butter pitch has diminished in today\u2019s game because of the Trajekt pitching machine. Hitters can train to hit an exact replica of a specialty pitch.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s understanding now with Trajekt and the technology that we have in baseball, they’re able to go in there and see the pitch over and over and over again,\u201d he says. \u201cYou still have to execute, but it\u2019s a different game. I was kind of key-holing myself a little bit with essentially two pitches. If I didn\u2019t throw sinkers to lefties and I didn\u2019t really throw a ton of changeups I had to play the execute game\u2014and execute flawlessly. So, now it\u2019s giving me a greater margin for error.\u201d<\/p>\n
Among all the tricks Soroka can do with a baseball, the slurve is his show stopper. Over the past two seasons he has thrown 598 of them and given up just 14 hits. He can vary the spin and throw it to both sides of the plate, especially flummoxing righthanders with front-door slurves. \u201cYou give them a ton of different shapes to worry about plus good stuff and command, and I think it makes for a pretty tough day,\u201d he says. His slurve is among the most elite pitches in baseball:<\/p>\n
Toughest Pitch Types to Hit, 2025-26 (Min. 500 pitches)<\/p>\n
Pitcher<\/p>\n
Pitch<\/p>\n
Batting Average Against<\/p>\n
Andr\u00e9s Mu\u00f1oz<\/p>\n
Slider<\/p>\n
.101<\/p>\n
Gavin Williams<\/p>\n
Curveball<\/p>\n
.109<\/p>\n
Michael Soroka<\/p>\n
Slurve<\/p>\n
.113<\/p>\n
Yoshinobu Yamamoto<\/p>\n
Splitter<\/p>\n
.127<\/p>\n
Several teams wanted to sign Soroka as a hybrid pitcher who can swing back and forth between the rotation and bullpen. Soroka wanted to start. The Diamondbacks gave him the chance. Their pitching coach, Brian Kaplan, worked with Soroka in three winters starting in 2018 at Cressey Sports Performance. Soroka spent the past winter refining his movements and pitch shapes with Casey Upperman at Rotational Athlete Solutions in Scottsdale.<\/p>\n
The sample is small, but the numbers suggest the Diamondbacks found a hidden gem, a 28-year-old pitcher with front-of-the-rotation stuff for $7.5 million. Right-handed hitters are 1-for-15 with eight strikeouts against him. Batters are hitting .136 against his two-strike pitches.<\/p>\n
About a decade ago velocity changed the game, as smart people understood that velocity could be taught. Hitters adjusted. Today\u2019s tech-savvy game has turned pitching into a more creative art form than it ever has been. It is ruled by the three S\u2019s of pitching: spin, sequencing and shaping. Soroka took the long way to get there, but he may be the best example of how to unlock the modern pitcher.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can have debates on what proper mechanics look like,\u201d he says, \u201cbut in reality, it\u2019s a whole lot more in depth than that. I just had to trust that there was going to be a process of ups and downs. It wasn\u2019t going to be linear.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut here\u2019s what I know: I still haven\u2019t seen anybody get better at moving\u2014actually using their body better\u2014and their stuff gets worse. I\u2019ve never seen that. So, it\u2019s nice to see and hear validation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The exact quote from Michelangelo at the top of this article has varied over the centuries, including a reference to seeing an angel within a block of marble and setting it free, but the theme remains the same. He believed art is revealed more than it is created from nothing. In that way pitching is an art. It took years, but Soroka revealed the pitcher within. He is proof of another philosophy of Il Divino: Ancora imparo\u2014\u201cI am still learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
More MLB from Sports Illustrated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there;…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":670924,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2404],"tags":[146,22,4314,5,38,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-670923","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arizona-diamondbacks","8":"tag-arizona","9":"tag-arizona-diamondbacks","10":"tag-arizonadiamondbacks","11":"tag-baseball","12":"tag-diamondbacks","13":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116371128580475164","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}