FUN & GAMES
First big-league visit to Toronto a big deal for Canadian Soroka
For Mike Soroka, the Atlanta Braves’ 20-year-old right-hander, it was going to be a tough act to follow. The Calgary native on Tuesday became the second Canadian pitcher to start a game at Rogers Centre in 2018. The first, Seattle left-hander James Paxton, from Richmond, B.C., tossed a no-hitter May 8, something accomplished just once previously by a Canadian on home soil.
For Soroka, that brief attempt to duplicate his countryman against the Jays ended with a leadoff double by Curtis Granderson. The Jays ended up touch- ing him up for four runs and eight hits in 42⁄ 3 innings, but Soroka left with a four-run lead, and the Braves won easily, 11-4. Anyone familiar with Soroka, a graduate of Canada’s junior team, knew he was living a dream Tuesday.
“It was everything I’d imagined for sure, coming out and seeing a lot of Canadians, a lot of Canadian flags,” he said.
“I thought it was pretty special too. I’m not sure about adrenalin. First time in the big leagues, every inning the adrenaline’s there. I definitely felt the energy early. Felt that coming into the stadium. A lot of people I recognized. It feels more like home, so that’s pretty cool.”
It was Soroka’s first major-league start in Toronto, but he had pitched twice previously at the Rogers Centre as a youngster in the Tournament-12, sponsored by the Jays in conjunction with Roberto Alomar.
This was also a meaningful trip for former Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos, making his first trip here as an opposing GM. He left the Jays following the 2015 season and, after two years as an assistant with the Dodgers, the 41-year-old was named GM of the Braves in the off-season.
Anthopoulos was asked about the 2015 June draft and how close the Jays came to choosing Soroka. They had been prepared with the 29th pick to make their selection. Soroka was on the short list. But choosing just ahead of them, the Braves chose the polished Canadian 17-year-old, forcing the Jays into scramble mode.
They picked a college righthander, Jon Harris, who is still struggling to establish himself.
“I can say this, from talking to people in Atlanta, they were concerned about the Jays selecting him,” Anthopoulos said.
“I can’t tell you he would have been (Toronto’s) pick, but I know that they were concerned with the Jays selecting him. We were right behind with the Canadian component there. The Braves did an outstanding job. The people that needed to get him right on evaluations did. The amateur scouting department here, they’re very thorough in terms of the makeup and work ethic.”
Before the two baseball Cana- dians returned to Toronto for the series, Anthopoulos had a chance to talk to his prized rookie in an attempt to know him better. And the GM believes he understands how important this visit is for the kid, even though he might try to downplay it to media.
“I asked him the other day, we were in the lounge in the Atlanta clubhouse,” Anthopoulos recalled. “I feel like it’s fun for me to come back, but he’s only 20. So I’m like, ‘Hey, is this a big deal for you? Is it cool?’
“He went, ‘Yeah, you know. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to mean something to me. It’s pretty important. I have a lot of friends and family that are going to come out here.’
“I know for his first start (in New York) Mike was very aware of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and getting them some stuff, so I don’t know how much he’ll express that, but I know being Canadian, being here is really important to him.”
What’s unusual about Soroka being in the majors at age 20 is that when Anthopoulos was with the Jays he tended to slow-play the development of starters, piggybacking top prospects at Class-A to build up innings and strengthen arms. Aaron Sanchez and Noah Syndergaard being were brought along ploddingly at Class-A Lansing. When the latter was traded to the Mets, he was fast-tracked and quickly emerged in the majors as Thor. Now the same GM has his own 20-year-old Canadian already making his fifth majorleague start.
Soroka entered Tuesday with a 2.57 ERA over four games and had allowed just one hit over 61⁄ 3 innings in his last start against the Mets, his second win over New York. There is no doubt that he will remain a Brave in 2018 as long as he remains healthy.
“We had a need, we needed a starter against the Mets,” Anthopoulos said. “They were in first place at the time. He didn’t have that much time at (TripleA). We didn’t care about his age. We didn’t care about the number of starts. He was just really our best pitcher available at the time.
“We didn’t care about his service time, super-2, freeagency, those type of things. You have to weigh the short term and the long term. He had a chance to help us. Could he have been well-served to have another 10 starts down at Gwinnett? Sure, but I didn’t think it was going to do any harm to be up here.
“I don’t think you can just have a set number in age, or a set number of games. It’s not going to work that way. Everyone’s totally different, totally unique and you have to weight the needs of the team.”
One thing is certain, Canada’s pitching future looks bright for future World Baseball Classics if the players remain healthy. Paxton and Soroka are joined in the majors by Phillies righthander Nick Pivetta. And other prime youngsters that could pitch for Canada in 2021 include Cal Quantrill (Padres), Jordan Romano (Jays), Landon Leach (Twins). There are currently 20 Canadian pitchers with affiliated minor-league clubs.
But on this night, in this ballpark, it was all about Soroka.