The Atlanta Braves have acquired reliever Aaron Bummer from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for five different players including Canadian pitcher Mike Soroka, the team announced Thursday.
Left-hander Jared Shuster, infielder Nicky Lopez, infielder Braden Shewmake and minor-league pitcher Riley Gowens are the other four players heading to the White Sox along with Soroka.
Bummer, 30, had a 6.79 ERA over 61 appearances with the White Sox last season.
Soroka had his 2023 season shut down early due to right forearm inflammation. The right-hander from Calgary, Alta., had a 6.40 ERA over six starts for the Braves last season.
Soroka was an All-Star in 2019, when he went 13-4 with a 2.68 ERA in his first full season with the Braves. He finished second in the NL Rookie of the Year voting and sixth in balloting for the league’s Cy Young Award.
Unfortunately, in Soroka’s third start of the pandemic-delayed 2020 season, the pitcher tore his right Achilles tendon during a routine fielding play.
After a follow-up procedure to address complications and nine gruelling months of rehab, Soroka blew out the tendon again while simply walking into Truist Park, not long after a protective boot had been removed.
The Canadian will now try to regain his All-Star form with the White Sox. Chicago struggled to a 61-101 record last season.