Hurston Waldrep, former Florida baseball player, called up by the Atlanta Braves

Less than a year after appearing in the College World Series as a Florida Gator, right-hander Hurston Waldrep is trying his luck in the major leagues.

The Southern Miss transfer who played just one stellar season in the Orange and Blue will make his first MLB start Sunday for the Atlanta Braves after being called up to Triple-A. He will face the Washington Nationals at 1:35 p.m. ET.

Even with Brandon Sproat leading the rotation, Waldrep has been Florida’s most effective starter for most of the 2023 season. He went 10-3 in 19 starts with an earned run average of 4, 16 in 101 2/3 innings.

Those numbers earned him a second-team D1Baseball All-American nod and, more importantly, convinced the Braves to spend the 24th overall pick on him in the draft.

His rapid rise through the minors was almost Wyatt Langford-style. Waldrep made one start in Single-A ball, pitched a season-high 12 innings in High-A and got 10 innings in Double-A before finishing the season in Triple-A. He’s bounced between AA and AAA this year with a pretty clear path to the majors.

An extra day of rest for Max Fried prompted the call-up, meaning a return to the minors could happen soon after, but Waldrep will be a regular arm in Atlanta sooner rather than later. His splitter will generate some of the best swing-and-miss rates in the country.

Follow us @GatorsWire on X, formerly known as Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Florida Gators news, notes and opinions.