Cubs Get Flexible Pitching Depth in Trade for Nationals' Michael Soroka

Cubs Get Flexible Pitching Depth in Trade for Nationals' Michael Soroka originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

The Chicago Cubs made their first big move of the 2025 MLB trade deadline Wednesday night when they acquired Washington Nationals' pitcher Michael Soroka. Soroka brings flexibility to the Cubs' pitching staff with experience as a starter and a reliever out of the bullpen.

Chicago sent their No. 13 and No. 14 prospects, shortstop Ronny Cruz and outfielder Christian Franklin, to the Nationals in the deal.

The new Cubs' right-hander's numbers on the season don't jump off the page. Soroka has a 4.87 ERA in 16 starts, across 81. 2 innings on the year. However, his advanced stats suggest he's pitched much better than that.

Soroka's WHIP is just 1.131 on the season, his xERA is 3.32, and his xBA is only .218. The 27-year-old throws his fastball around 94 mph, but the pitch that separates him is the slurve. Soroka throws the fastball 45 percent of the time, with the slurve right behind it at nearly 35 percent.

New Cubs pitcher Michael Soroka features a breaking ball classified by Baseball Savant as a “slurve.”

He throws it around 80 MPH with more drop than most pitches with a similar shape.

Here’s a closer look: pic.twitter.com/FNjSr0eMHq

— Brendan Miller (@brendan_cubs) July 31, 2025

In 2024, Soroka threw the slurve less than 5 percent of the time. His slurve is ranked in the 94th percentile for breaking pitching, according to Baseball Savant, and opponents are hitting .124 with a .237 slugging percentage off of the pitch.

The Cubs could use Soroka as a third starting pitcher behind Matthew Boyd and Shota Imanaga, or they could use him out of the bullpen. He came out of the bullpen last year for the White Sox, delivered a 2.75 ERA with 60 strikeouts, and went two or more innings at least 10 times. In his last 24.1 innings pitched in 2024, he held an outstanding 1.48 ERA with 41 strikeouts.

The Cubs have experience with this type of pitcher as well. Brad Keller was a starter for most of his career with the Kansas City Royals before moving to the bullpen for a bit in 2024. Chicago signed Keller this offseason and has used him exclusively out of the bullpen effectively. Keller has a 2.87 ERA across 47 innings, and has made one start out of his 44 appearances.

Soroka isn't the ace to put at the front of the Cubs' rotation, but he gives Chicago flexibility. The new addition could be a starter or work out of the bullpen. Soroka is a rental player with his contract up at the end of the season, and the Cubs did give up two of their top 15 prospects. However, the Cubs have a lot of depth at Franklin's outfield position currently, and Cruz, though just 18 years old, was playing at the Rookie Level this season.

Chicago made their first of many expected moves to try to build the right roster for a World Series run with the addition of Soroka to the pitching staff.

Related: Cubs Believe in Matt Shaw at Third Base, Still Monitoring Diamondbacks Star

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 31, 2025, where it first appeared.