ATLANTA – Mike Soroka has already spent nine grueling months of rehabilitation after blowing his right Achilles tendon.
Now he does it all over again.
The Atlanta Braves star, who grew up, spoke on Monday for the first time since receiving the shocking news that he would be pulling back his Achilles and would need another major operation.
“This process is not something anyone would want,” said Soroka, who was sitting with the Braves broadcast team for a game against the New York Yankees. “But I know I’ll be stronger. I’m looking forward to being able to look back that day and pull strength from this whole process.”
Soroka, who played the All-Star Game as a rookie in 2019, has not filed for release since the initial three injury begins in the 2020 season delayed by the pandemic.
He hoped to be ready to return earlier this season (he even threw himself into a game in late spring training), only to suffer a setback in his recovery that required another procedure. surgical.
Then, as he walked to the Truist Park clubhouse in May, shortly after a protective boot was removed from his leg, Soroka completely tore his tendon a second time.
“I wasn’t‘ walking ’yet, really walking,” Soroka recalled. “He was putting a little pressure underground and lifting his heel. About 10 feet from the front door, here in Truist, it started to explode.” I don’t think any of us would believe that. “
Now, Soroka will not return to the Braves until 2022, at the earliest.
“No one had really seen this happen so far from the rehabilitation process,” he said. “We had overcome so many obstacles. I had thrown in a spring training match. It’s not that we were fresh in the rehab process.”
“It covered me up,” Soroka added. “That moment was definitely one of the hardest moments of my life.”
While the prognosis for a full recovery is generally not as favorable for those who tear the Achilles tendon again, Soroka said doctors took additional steps in the second surgery to make the area stronger. .
They drew a portion of a hamstring tendon into the tendon to give it extra stability and used older sutures (slightly thicker than normally used) to further strengthen the leg.
“It’s never a safe thing. Sometimes weird things happen,” Soroka said. “In any case, it will be stronger than ever. That will be the goal at least.”
Still only 24, Soroka was expected to be the leader of a young Braves rotation after going 13-4 with an ERA of 2.68 in his first full year in the major leagues. In addition to making the All-Star Game, he finished second in the NL Rookie Voting of the Year and sixth for the Cy Young Award.
This ordeal no doubt shook his confidence.
“You spend nine months even though you go through a rehabilitation process and it essentially doesn’t work, you think you’ve failed,” Soroka said. “You immediately ask again,‘ What could I have done differently? and “What have I done wrong?” But you see, maybe you didn’t do anything wrong. You just couldn’t change it. “
He acknowledged that it was difficult to try to have nothing to show for the prolonged rehab he experienced the first time.
“Physically, in a way, you know the last nine months have been a bit of a waste,” Soroka said. “That’s probably the worst thing. Overcoming it, I learned a lot about myself.”
While he is now sure to lose most of his two full years before he can pitch again, Soroka remains confident of fully recovering.
“We’re moving forward every day,” he said. “It’s been fun to watch.”