Soroka sees opportunity to re-establish career with Nats

As he explored his options this winter, Michael Soroka was struck by the Nationals’ interest in him. Interest that stemmed not as much from what he had done in the past, but from what they feel he’s still capable of doing in the future.

“It seemed like the best place to move forward with, for myself and for the organization,” the right-hander said Friday in an introductory Zoom call with D.C. reporters. “I’m excited to be a part of that. It’s an organization that’s going in the right direction.”

The Nats on Thursday made Soroka their first major league acquisition of the offseason, giving him a one-year, $9 million contract to join their 2025 rotation. It’s a gamble in some ways, because he hasn’t been a full-time, big-league starter since 2019 with the Braves (when he finished runner-up for Rookie of the Year and sixth for the Cy Young Award).

Soroka’s career has been on a winding path since, with two full seasons lost to a freak Achilles’ tendon tear (and re-tear), then a slow and at times ineffective return to the mound that culminated this season with an 0-10 record, 4.74 ERA and demotion from the rotation to the bullpen for an historically awful White Sox team.

The Nationals, though, saw what Soroka himself felt during the latter stages of a tough season in Chicago. Upon moving to a long-relief role, he enjoyed newfound success with some changes both to his mechanics and his pitch usage. In 16 relief appearances totaling 36 innings, he produced a 2.75 ERA, 1.222 WHIP and a whopping 60 strikeouts.

Other teams noticed that, too, but the Nats specifically believed that success can now be duplicated in the starting role Soroka has always desired.

“The way last season went for me, I think the priority for me this free agency was to get back into an opportunity that was going to be a starting role,” the proud Calgary native said. “It’s something I’ve done my whole life. It’s something I felt like was still important to me, and still something I could help a club out with a lot.”

In multiple calls with members of the Nationals front office and coaching staff, Soroka became convinced D.C. was the right place to call his new home. Though he’s still only 27, with only 326 big league innings on his resume, he is for now the senior member of a young rotation with visions of taking a big step forward in 2025.

“We all saw what the Nats did last year around the league,” he said. “A lot of youth. A lot of young guys coming up looking to prove themselves. And that’s an exciting place to be. This is an organization that’s always wanted to win. And in a difficult division, that makes it that much more important to have that good culture. The way they expressed that was important to me.”

The Nationals are banking on the validity of those eye-popping, late-season numbers from Soroka. He achieved them by finally incorporating some long-discussed mechanical tweaks – primarily faster arm movement and a more direct line toward the plate – and a shift in his pitch usage.

In his early years with the Braves, Soroka’s No. 1 pitch was a sinker. This season, he began throwing a four-seam fastball more often. Then he decreased the usage of his changeup and increased the usage of his slider, which he threw 36.5 percent of the time in 2024 while holding opposing hitters to a .168 batting average and .317 slugging percentage and inducing a whopping whiff rate of 41.8 percent.

In the bullpen, Soroka learned how to focus on the immediate task at hand, no longer worrying about facing the same hitters a second and third time later in the game. He believes he can now translate that mindset back into a starting role.

“Get out there in the first inning and just go,” he said. “Don’t look up. Don’t try to plan six, seven innings. Just get them out. I think that’s really helpful moving forward.”

Soroka admits he’s a different pitcher now than he was as a ballyhooed rookie in 2019, but he doesn’t view that in negative terms. He still throws in the mid-90s. He’s learned a lot through his trials and tribulations, especially how to stay mentally strong through two years of rehab following three ankle surgeries from 2020-22.

He’s been around a while now, long enough to reach free agency and to get to pick where he will pitch next. And yet he’s still only 27, with relatively little wear and tear on his arm.

Soroka sees an entire career still in front of him, having learned from former teammate Charlie Morton that success sometimes doesn’t come until you’re closer to 30 than 20.

“That’s another thing that helped me get through this process: Understanding that I do have time,” he said. “But it’s now time to figure out how to perform at my best again and show people that’s in there again as a starter.”