Atlanta Braves place starting pitcher Mike Soroka on the 10-day disabled list

Shouldering the burden

Sending their number three ranked prospect (MLBPipeline) and baseballs #27 (Baseball America), #28 (Mlbpipeline) or #33 (Baseball Prospectus) – take you pick –  to the DL quickly is a smart move.

A strain simply a stretched or torn muscle or tendon. In Soroka’s case  they didn’t grade the strain making it appear a simple simple muscle strain. Treated with rest, hot and cold packs to increase circulation and therapy.

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In the past pitchers tried to pitch through such things. Today we know that treating them early reduces the probability of the shoulder becoming an ongoing problem such as the issues Anibal Sanchez faced in recent years.

Shoulders are complex and not easily fixed once serious damage is done. According to Dr. Keith Meister shoulder injuries are at the bad end of the arm injury spectrum.

"“The stresses and loads that the shoulder sees are far more complex than what the elbow sees . .  so the problem becomes much more complex. . (ranking) them in order of (most) problematic, it’s rotator cuff, labrum, then elbow ligament. The rotator cuff is the ‘tire tread’ of the shoulder. . you wear the tire tread out, more often than not the shoulder goes.”"

One man’s injury is another man’s opportunity

The Braves had Soroka tabbed to start against the Cubs tonight. In his absence the Braves recalled Max Fried to take his place.

Fried began the year as the Braves #7 prospect (MLBPipeline) and baseball’s tenth ranked left handed pitching prospect. He’s been up and down once this season working in long relief but Alex Anthopoulos recently said the Braves still view him as a starter.

Fried made three starts at Gwinnett this year. The first two were six inning outings where he posted a 2.45 ERA and 1.272 WHIP striking out 10 and walking four. His last outing came after sitting in the Braves bullpen without a start for over a week. Obviously rusty, he managed only four innings allowing three runs and striking out five in his last AAA start.

That’s a Wrap

The Braves won’t rush Soroka back, there are quality arms available to fill in while they allow his shoulder to heal. Soroka has the look of a pitcher who could be a star for a long time. There’s no benefit to endangering that kid of asset.

Fried will stick around for a few days and Sanchez should be back from the DL soon in case another start is need. As soon as his arm is healthy however, Soroka will get another shot at the rotation.

Next: Who's going to lock up tonight?

Speaking of the rotation, the starters really need to step up and carry more of the load, and do it pretty soon.  At the 42 game mark Braves starters have thrown 226 2/3 innings (not enough), the bullpen’s thrown 160 (way too many.) If this doesn’t change we’ll start seeing reliever’s performance drop and injuries start to happen. How about we fix that before it happens?