Soroka got pulled from his start with Triple-A Gwinnett on Saturday after 73 pitches and 4.2 innings as Atlanta keeps a close eye on his innings total this season, David O'Brien of The Athletic reports.
The right-hander was pitching well Saturday, allowing two runs on three hits and striking out nine without walking a batter, but the organization is focused on the bigger picture. Soroka has tossed 77.2 innings at Triple-A in 2023 plus another 29.1 in the majors, a fairly sizable workload for the 26-year-old considering he managed only 38.2 innings total over the prior three years while recovering from three surgeries on his Achilles tendon. He appears to be rounding into form -- he's got a 1.62 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and 25:5 K:BB in August for Gwinnett -- but Atlanta may prefer to have him finish out the year healthy and looking ahead to 2024 rather than bring him back up to the big-league roster for the stretch run.