Michael Soroka was a starter his entire career until finishing last season in the bullpen with the White Sox, where he was a revelation – pitching to a 2.75 ERA with 60 strikeouts in 36 innings after a rough go of it in his nine early-season starts.
But Soroka wanted to be a starter again, and prove to both MLB and himself that he could be the guy who was an All-Star and Rookie of the Year runner-up in 2019, and Washington proved to be the perfect landing spot.
“This was my first go around in free agency, so it was a lot of learning and understanding, and listening to my agent as to how the process went,” Soroka told Grant Paulsen Friday. “We had a goal of starting again, that was the main goal for us, and there were a few teams that were interested. The Nats’ presentation for me over Zoom was really good, everybody kind of seemed on the same page, and it seemed like the place that I was going to be able to come and continue the things that I had changed for myself for the better. So yeah, it really just clicked.”
And part of that was having a staff that meshes both traditional pitching strategy with everything you need to be successful in 2025.
“I think the whole staff is a great mix of guys that played, and Jim Hickey and Sean Doolittle are a great mix of what a pitching staff needs to be nowadays,” Soroka said, “so it just clicked right away, and made the decision pretty easy in the end.”
Listen to Soroka’s entire conversation with GP, including the reason he wants to go by Michael and not Mike any longer, above!