Perhaps the most telling predictor of Mike Soroka’s 2021 season cannot be found in glossy magazines, websites devoted to the Atlanta Braves, or online fantasy baseball tools.
Maybe baseball watchers should look to Frederic Horowitz, Margaret Brogan and Robert Herzog for answers.
Read More What to Expect From Soroka in 2021Watching Calgary’s Mike Soroka succeed at the Major League Baseball level is somewhat bittersweet for Greg Morrison.
The Medicine Hat Mavericks owner and general manager might find himself asking “what if” when he thinks back on the summer of 2015.
Morrison had managed to convince Soroka to play for the Mavericks that summer, but it wasn’t meant to be as he was drafted in the first round of that summer’s MLB Draft by the Atlanta Braves.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Read More Close But No SorokaThe last time we saw Calgarian Mike Soroka take the mound for the Atlanta Braves, he was breaking new ground.
It was Game 3 of the National League Division Series (NLDS) against the St. Louis Cardinals – an exciting 3-1 victory for Atlanta – and Soroka struck out seven batters through seven innings while surrendering no walks, just two hits and one earned run.
It’s been a long time since that game at Busch Stadium on Oct. 6, 2019, and it feels even longer with the COVID-19 pandemic that has cancelled and postponed baseball games at all levels this year.
Read More Opening It UpYou could call it glove at first sight.
Western Canadian baseball fans may not have realized it at the time, but they were watching the best defensive shortstop since Ozzie Smith take the field.
That summer of 2009, a scrawny 19-year-old kid from the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao made his way to the city of 15,000 people in Saskatchewan to suit up for the Yorkton Cardinals at Jubilee Park.
Majestic moonshots were not his calling card, and if you skipped batting practice you could still witness something special from Andrelton Simmons.
Read More Short Stop in SaskatchewanThe 2019 Major League Baseball (MLB) campaign was a revelation for Calgary pitcher Mike Soroka.
A quick look at his accomplishments from last year shows that. He was a National League (NL) Rookie of the Year runner-up; he finished sixth in NL Cy Young voting; he won the Tip O’Neill Award, which honours Canada’s best baseball player; he pitched a three-up, three-down inning in the MLB All-Star Game; and he was a finalist for the Lou Marsh Award, given annually to the nation’s top athlete. Those are just the Coles Notes on a season filled with impressive firsts for the young man.
So, what can we expect from the 22-year-old during his sophomore season?
Read More What to Expect from Soroka in 2020