On Friday night, Michael Soroka’s continued search for success will take him to Milwaukee, where he will make his first start of the second half against the NL Central-leading Brewers. Soroka’s injury-laden absence from the majors has been a story of setbacks and small triumphs, but now that he’s back, it still remains to be seen if and when he’ll return to accumulating effective outings.
On the year, Soroka has a gnarled line: 122 ERA-, 155 FIP-, 111 xFIP- through four starts and a relief appearance spanning 23 1⁄3 innings. He’s shown flashes of effectiveness, like a 7/0 K/BB game against the Marlins that was marred by two homers, and a three-strikeouts-in-three-innings-with-no-walks relief appearance against the White Sox, but still seems be vacillating between “too near the plate and prone to getting hit hard” and “too nibbly, leading to too many walks.