Soroka welcomes reboot in Chicago

Former Braves starting pitcher Michael Soroka has received a needed fresh start with the White Sox. He is healthy after years of issues, including requiring three Achilles surgeries, and welcomes a career reboot.

While his final season with the Braves didn’t unfold as he hoped, he found success at Triple-A Gwinnett, which helped restore his confidence as he tries to get his career back on track at age 26.

“There are some things you learn in this game every year, no matter the highs and lows,” he said. “I learned a lot of good and learned what it was to compete at the highest level to the best of my ability in 2019 (as an AllStar) and have that confidence. Then also how to gain that confidence back. I mentioned last year that one of the missing pieces early in the season was finding some confidence. That was easy when I was younger because I had no reason not to be. I had success in a lot of different places. And, sure, I had my outings. But for the most part, it was an easy choice to go out there and be confident in what I did every day.

“Last year, you get questions about doubt, and it’s hard not to let that creep in. But at the end of the day, you have to get to the point where doubt doesn’t matter. You have to go do your job today and you’re going to make your adjustments tomorrow no matter the outcome. I think I made that adjustment later in the season. The difficult part was I felt near the end of the year, I’d figured it out. I’d figured out how to compete to the best of my ability to that point. And I spent a lot of those innings in Triple-A. So, obviously, that was difficult. But I’m not going to let that ruin all the happy days I did have in that organization.”