Last start as a National? Soroka's ready for any outcome

HOUSTON – Right-hander Michael Soroka walked off the mound at Daikin Park after allowing a solo home run to Yainer Diaz in the fourth inning, leading to the question: Was that his last outing as a member of the Nationals?

Tuesday marked Soroka’s final start before the upcoming Trade Deadline on Thursday at 6 p.m. ET. Soroka signed a one-year, $9 million deal in December with the Nats – the kind of expiring contract they have been active in trading at recent Deadlines.

“I think it's just one at a time, wherever it may be. Point at the mound, I'll go throw,” Soroka said after a no-decision in Washington’s 7-4 loss to Houston. “The Nationals have done really well by me, and it's been fun. Whatever happens, happens. But it’s a good place, a lot of good guys. I think I’m ready for whatever comes next.”

The Nationals inked Soroka, 27, to be in their starting rotation. He had been a starter for all of his career before moving to the White Sox bullpen last May.

In his first full season back in the starter role, Soroka is 3-8 with a 4.87 ERA in 16 starts across 81 1/3 innings. Over his past four starts, he has recorded a 3.00 ERA with 17 strikeouts and a .200 opponents’ batting average.

He was sidelined after his first start of the season on March 31 until May 7 because of a right biceps stain. Still, this is already the highest-inning total since 2019 for Soroka, who battled injuries throughout his career and missed the entire ‘21 and ‘22 seasons.

On Tuesday, Soroka pitched 3 1/3 innings with four hits, two runs, no walks and four strikeouts. The Nats made the call to the ‘pen immediately after he gave up the Diaz homer on his 74th pitch, a 90.7 mph fastball up in the zone.

“I don’t think he was that crisp,” said interim manager Miguel Cairo. “The first three innings, it was a hard inning. I just made the decision to bring someone else from the bullpen. But at least he battled, he was trying to keep his composure and navigate through those innings. Sometimes it goes like that.”

Soroka entered Tuesday with the best slurve in baseball, per Baseball Savant, with a 43.9 percent strikeout rate, 38.6 percent whiff rate and .117 opponents’ batting average.

He has been looking to reclaim or adjust to his velocity, which averaged 94.4 mph on his fastball in June and has dropped this month. Soroka’s four-seamer maxed at 92.8 mph and averaged 91.4 mph on Tuesday.

“It’s been much of the same the last, I think, few outings,” Soroka said. “I think we're doing a good job of understanding that it’s where it is, it’s what we have. How do we play with that? It's not something that I'm a stranger to, in pitching with lesser velocity. It's somewhat of a challenge, and I don't mind a challenge. It forces us to get to our spots and mix up twos and fours and really pitch. I still felt like it played pretty well, other than the homer, obviously. Guys were under it all night.”

Soroka has not issued many free bases by way of walks; his 2.66 walks per nine innings is a drastic improvement from last season’s 4.97 rate. But he leads all pitchers with 14 hit batters, including one on Tuesday.

Soroka could be of interest to other teams as a starter or long reliever. Last season as a multiple-innings reliever, he recorded a 2.75 ERA, recorded 15.0 strikeouts per nine innings and held opponents to a .189 batting average. He has struggled to limit runs as he gets later in games, notably the sixth inning. He has a 2.40 ERA in the first inning, 5.25 in the fifth and then a jump to 16.50 in the sixth (nine games).

“At the end of the day, dealing with stuff like this and velocity that I’m trying to find has kept me kind of in the day-to-day, worrying about what I can do today to be better for tomorrow,” Soroka said.