Michael Soroka’s velocity had been down in his last few starts with the Washington Nationals, and he left his first start with the Cubs on Monday with right shoulder discomfort.
The Chicago Cubs’ underwhelming trade deadline just got worse.
In a 3-2 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Monday, which dropped the Cubs three games behind the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the National League Central division, starting pitcher Michael Soroka exited after just two innings due to right shoulder discomfort. After the game, manager Craig Counsell said Soroka will go to the injured list.
The Cubs acquired Soroka, a 28-year-old right-hander, in a trade with the Washington Nationals on Wednesday in exchange for infielder Ronny Cruz and outfielder Christian Franklin, Chicago’s No. 13 and 14 prospects, respectively.
In the moment, the trade appeared to give the Cubs depth at the end of their starting rotation, as Soroka had a 4.87 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and ranked in the 85th percentile in expected batting average against across 16 starts with the Washington Nationals. But as the trade deadline passed, and the Cubs failed to make big move for a frontline starting pitcher, Soroka’s importance heightened on a pitching staff with Justin Steele, Jameson Taillon and Javier Assad on the injured list.
The early stages of his Cubs debut looked promising, retiring five of the first six batters with three strikeouts. But things quickly went downhill, as Reds catcher Tyler Stephenson hammered Soroka’s slurve for a solo home run in the second inning. He’d face just one more batter.
“Just went to go put a little extra on a fastball, and it grabbed me a little bit and didn’t go away,” Soroka said postgame, per Marquee Network. “That’s kind of –– you feel things here and there during the course of an outing, and usually if you throw another one and it’s gone, it’s nothing. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. So I decided to say something when I came in after that inning, and they moved along.”
While Soroka’s early exit came as a surprise initially, his last few starts revealed a concerning trend. A four-seam fastball that averaged 94.4 mph and topped out at 97.3 mph in his June 17 start against the Rockies steadily decreased over the following weeks. On Monday, it averaged 90.8 mph and maxed out at 91.7 mph.
Here’s a look at Soroka’s maximum, average and minimum four-seam fastball velocity across his last nine starts –– one with the Cubs and eight with the Nationals –– according to Baseball Savant.