Soroka himself feels ready to go after throwing 78 pitches on Sunday. “I’m absolutely ready to compete. It’s time... It depends what they want to do. We got to have that conversation.” The Nationals could decide to stretch Soroka out to 90 pitches before returning, but the veteran is not concerned about his recent injury. “It was kind of a one-off pitch. It wasn’t really something that crept up on me. Overextended on a breaking ball, and it grabbed me. So yeah, I threw a lot of breaking balls since then, and they all feel good. So we’re in good shape.” It sounds like Soroka will be back next week at the latest, so now could be the time to stash him in deeper fantasy formats after a strong spring training.

Soroka allowed four runs over five innings on Tuesday in his first rehab start with Double-A Harrisburg. The 27-year-old righty has been out since late March recovering from a biceps strain. He’ll continue building up his pitch count and should return to Washington’s rotation at some point in May.

Soroka experienced biceps cramps in his start on May 31st and has been on the IL since. He threw a bullpen session over the weekend and is now listed as the starter for Tuesday’s game with Double-A Harrisburg. Given that he has been out for almost a month, he’ll probably require at least one more rehab start before returning to the Nationals’ rotation.

Soroka continues to make steady progress from his right biceps strain, and he’s been able to throw a few bullpens since hitting the injured list April 4. The hope now is that if there are no setbacks from this last session that he can make a rehab start next week. He may need more than one, but a return in early May seems likely.