Amped Soroka finds velocity in first spring start (nightcap update)

JUPITER, Fla. – Michael Soroka hadn’t jogged out of his own dugout to start a game since May 12 with the White Sox. Over his last 16 appearances in 2024, he had to jog in from the bullpen as a reliever.

On that day, he gave up five runs (four earned) in 5 ⅓ innings to start what would be a 7-0 loss to the Guardians, inflating his season ERA to 6.39. From that point on, he posted a 2.75 ERA over 36 innings as a multi-inning reliever for Chicago.

But when he signed his one-year, $9 million contract with the Nationals over the offseason, he was promised a chance to return to the rotation as the highest-paid pitcher on the team. Today’s start in a 3-2 walk-off loss to the Cardinals was his first step back toward being a full-time starter.

Soroka completed three scoreless innings with one walk and three strikeouts on 39 pitches, 27 strikes. A perfect outing to match the goals laid out for him for his first Grapefruit League appearance of the spring.

“I felt pretty good,” the 27-year-old right-hander said. “I felt a little amped up early. I was kind of throwing through a couple things and just couldn't quite find that tensionless delivery that I kind of found earlier. Then kind of clicked it all into place at the back end of the first inning and let it ride. So I felt pretty good about the adjustments I made. That's just kind of everything I guess you could ask for in your first time out there.”

“He was really good,” manager Davey Martinez said. “Looked like he had a lot left in the tank. He threw the ball really well. Really well.”

Not known as a high-velocity pitcher throughout five-year major league career, Soroka had a four-seam fastball that averaged 93.5 mph last year with the White Sox. Today it nearly averaged 95 mph and topped out at 96.2 mph, and two of his strikeouts came on 95 mph heaters. And when he departed it looked like he could have gone longer.

“That's awesome. As we talked about earlier, about his routine, right, he built himself up,” Martinez said. “And we easily could have sent him back out there, but he hit his mark right there. We wanted to keep him around 40 pitches. But he did really well.”

Was the velocity uptick from the extra energy of playing in his first spring game early on, or just where he’s worked it up to at this point?

“If anything, velocity got better the more I settled down,” Soroka said. “I think early on, it was just a little tight, coming out a little stiff. And I think it's just, again, you're out there for the first time in new jersey and you want to impress and you want to show the people that gave you this opportunity that they made a good decision. Once I kind of found that foot strike, found the tempo down the hill, it kind of started to click.”

An obvious difference between starting and relieving is that you have to carry that velocity over four, five, six innings as a starter. As a reliever, it’s only between one and three frames. Does today’s performance give Soroka confidence he can maintain his velocity deep into games?

“Yeah, absolutely. I think I knew I could,” he said. “In relief last year, for the most part, I was still throwing multiple innings. And to be honest with you, the feeling of where the fastball got to at the end of inning three was really exciting, because it feels like I can replicate it over and over again. It's definitely the easiest I've ever thrown in the mid-90s. So it's just a matter of being patient and keep doing the stuff that led me to that. And yeah, I think after today, especially, I know I won't have a problem, at least holding somewhere close to that.”

“It being synced in is what I really like today,” Martinez said. “His mechanics were really good. He wasn't rushing anything. That allows the velo to stay consistent, and that's what he was. He was 94-96 (mph) every batter. So that's very encouraging, especially his first time facing another team. I know he's been throwing. He's been throwing some (live batting practices), but to see him go out there and compete like that is very encouraging.”

* Josh Bell provided the Nationals offense with one swing. In the first inning he hit his first home run since his return to the Nats, a two-run shot off Miles Mikolas.

Bell sent the 92 mph sinker left over the plate 414 feet to straight away center field.

“It's awesome, and he hit it to the biggest part of the field, which was great,” Martinez said. “He's working with (hitting coach Darnell Coles) diligently to just get himself ready early and just to be on time. So far, he's done really well.”

The Nationals are still in a desperate search for more power. Bell’s homer was only the team’s fourth of the spring. They were dead last in longballs. Now they’re in a three-way tie with the Athletics and Blue Jays for the fewest in the major leagues.

“I think, overall, it'll come. It's still early in camp. Guys are still working on the timing," Martinez said. I've always said, early in camp, pitchers are way ahead of the hitters. So the timing is the thing. So we're really trying to focus more on being more selective as far as what we swing at. And I think that's going to help us drive the ball a lot better.”

* Jarlin Susana lit up the radar gun again with his fastball averaging 99.3 mph and topping at 102 mph in the eighth inning. He was pretty wild, though, only throwing 8 of his 21 pitches for strikes and issuing two walks and getting one strikeout.

“It's good,” Martinez said. “He needs to learn how to pitch with guys on base. He seemed like he calmed himself down a little bit and was able to throw strikes when he needed to. The biggest thing with all these kids, they need to understand that walks, nothing good ever comes out of walks. … When you walk the leadoff hitter, especially up here, it's tough to recover. Usually, those guys get around the bases. So we got to pound the strike zone. We preach it all the time. We gotta come in there and we gotta throw strike one and continue to throw strikes.”

Update: The Nationals shut out the Marlins 7-0 in the nightcap back in West Palm Beach.

Gore completed three shutout innings with two hits, one walk, four strikeouts and one wild pitch.

Dylan Crews went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Riley Adams hit a grand slam for his first home run of spring training.

Eduardo Salazar (two frames), Jose A. Ferrer, Jackson Rutledge (two frames) and Orlando Ribalta combined for six shutout innings and only one walk out of the bullpen. Salazar stuck out four of the six batters he faced. Rutledge also had a strikeout.

Luis García Jr. was a late scratch from the lineup with an illness, per Martinez. He has a sore throat and fever, so the Nats sent him home. Darren Baker went 2-for-3 with a run scored while starting at second base in his place.

More from tonight’s game coming tomorrow morning.