Wednesday turned out to be a somewhat busy news day for the Atlanta Braves. An important bullpen piece underwent season-ending shoulder surgery and a promising prospect was tabbed to be the Braves starter on Thursday afternoon.
The injury bug has yet again hit the Atlanta Braves organization and yes it involves a pitcher. The Braves announced on Wednesday afternoon that right hander Arodys VizcaÃno had surgery on his ailing shoulder.Â
VizcaÃno had been dealing with inflammation in his shoulder for most of the Spring and a majority of last season.
There had been signs that Viz was not as healthy as we thought. He continued to struggle with command but the velocity was still there.
The surgery was to repair his labrum and remove scar tissue in the shoulder area.
No, it was inflammation diagnosed last year and this year when went on DL. Then went in a "cleaned up" the labrum and removed scar tissue from the joint. https://t.co/q3FjuSyicv
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) April 17, 2019
Even with the command issues, the Atlanta Braves reliever pitched 4 innings of work and posted a 2.25 ERA in that stretch. He allowed 1 earned run on 3 hits with 3 walks and 6 strikeouts.
Unfortunately, this leaves a fairly big hole in the already struggling Braves bullpen. We will see what the front office decides to do in the next few days.
Could this finally be what it takes for them to go get Craig Kimbrel?
Mike Soroka makes his first start for the Braves in 2019
Mike Soroka was a nice surprise for the Atlanta Braves last season before he went down with shoulder tightness last season.
Coming into 2019 he was poised to have a breakout year  but was again sidelined with shoulder discomfort early in Spring training.
On Wednesday, the Atlanta Braves announced that the 21 year-old would be making his season debut on Thursday afternoon against Arizona.
This is a breath of fresh air for Braves fans because we know how good this kid can be. It is an immediate upgrade to the starting staff if he can stay healthy.
Kyle Wright is now listed to start tonight for Gwinnett. So, as expected, it appears Mike Soroka will be called up to start tomorrow afternoon's series finale against the D-backs.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) April 17, 2019
The 2018 season saw Soroka pitch 25 2/3 innings and finish prematurely with a 3.51 ERA. He walked 7 batters while striking out 21 of them across those innings as well.
Soroka showed incredible command and was able to mix his pitches extremely well. Let’s hope that continues Thursday and beyond.
Mike has been pretty impressive in his 2 starts for the Gwinnett Stripers. The first outing featured Soroka throwing 5 innings of perfect baseball. The Atlanta Braves prospect struck out 7 batters and allowed 0 earned runs, 0 walks, and 0 hits.
His second outing wasn’t as stellar but was still decent. Soroka lasted just 4 1/3 innings allowing 4 runs on 5 hits. He would also walk 1 batter and only strike out 3 of them and set his ERA at 3.86.
But the important thing to remember is that Mike is healthy and hasn’t experienced any set backs. I’m excited to see Soroka back on the mound for Atlanta.
The Atlanta Braves will wrap up their series with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday at 12:10 pm EST.
The probable starters will be Mike Soroka (0-0) and Luke Weaver (0-1, 5.17 ERA). After this series the Braves will go on the road to face the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds.