OTTAWA- Junior National Team alumnus Mike Soroka (Calgary, AB) will make his Major League Baseball debut tonight (7:10PM EDT) against the New York Mets at Citi Field in Flushing, New York.
The Atlanta Braves announced that they’re promoting the 20-year-old from Triple-A Gwinnett where he’s pitched to a 2-0 record with a 1.99 ERA and 24 strikeouts over four starts (22.2 innings pitched).
Soroka, 20, is set to become the seventh Canadian to appear in the big leagues in 2018 and the 24thgraduate of the Junior National Team program to reach the big leagues since the 1999 MLB Draft. Soroka’s promotion is the second big league debut for a Canadian in 2018 after Tyler O’Neill (Maple Ridge, BC) played in his first big league game on April 19thas a member of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Soroka’s ascent to the big leagues has been nothing short of impressive since the Braves made him a first round selection (28thoverall) in the 2015 draft. After an All-Star season with Single-A Rome in 2016, Soroka skipped High-A and pitched for Double-A Mississippi in 2017 where he was 11-8 with a 2.78 ERA. He represented Canada at the Future’s Game in Miami last July, and was named Braves Minor League Pitcher of the Year following the season.
A three-year member of the Junior National Team (2013-2015), Soroka helped Canada to a bronze medal at the 2014 COPABE 18U Pan American Championships in La Paz, Mexico where he started the bronze medal game against Mexico.
Prior to joining the Junior National Team program, Soroka represented his native Alberta at the 2013 Canada Games in Sherbrooke, QC and led the squad to a bronze medal before participating in the first edition of Tournament 12 at Rogers Centre.
