Braves move top healthy pitching prospect to Triple-A

The Atlanta Braves have an opening in their rotation, if anyone wants it.

Since starter Spencer Strider went down, Atlanta has cycled through several options at the 5th spot in the rotation and so far, no one has grabbed the spot and kept it. The Braves sent five different pitchers to the mound, and only one had an ERA below 4.66 – AJ Smith-Shawver, who hit the injured list after a scoreless start with a strained oblique that should keep him out. gap until July. Perspective Spencer Schwellenbach showed promise in his first outing, going five innings with three runs allowed, all on a home run by Washington’s Lane Thomas.

The Braves have another top prospect who is set to make his major league debut following Saturday’s announcement that the right-hander Hurston Waldrep was transferred from Double-A Mississippi to Triple-A Gwinnett.

Waldrep, 22, was Atlanta’s first-round pick last season out of the University of Florida, where he took the Gators to the College World Series last season. Making a MiLB-record eight starts following the draft, Waldrep leads all 2023 rookies with seventeen combined starts in his professional career. He is 3-5 with a 2.40 ERA and 89 strikeouts (10.2 K/9) to 33 walks (3.8 BB/9) so far in 2024.

Waldrep has been tasked with some interesting restrictions on the pitching arsenal, as is typical of Atlanta’s developmental guidelines toward their minor league pitchers. He sidelined the fastball (only 38% usage) and superb splitter, throwing more sliders and curveballs than last season. After two rough outings to start the season, allowing ten runs over a total of seven innings in his first two starts, he rebounded to become one of the best pitchers in the system. In his final seven starts in Double-A before the promotion, he went 3-2 with a 1.28 ERA, striking out 41 to just 12 walks in his 42.1 innings.

His walk rate has improved, one of the most important tasks assigned to the right-hander. After walking 4.2 batters per nine innings in college and 4.9 while moving through the system last season (where he pitched in all four full-season affiliates), Waldrep only walked 3 .1 batters per nine this season and that’s After walk five during these first two abbreviated starts.

Long-time utilityman David Fletcher, who spent almost the entire season in Triple-A Gwinnett except for a brief appearance in the big leagues during Ozzie Albies’ stint on the injured list, with a knuckleball and Gwinnett used it once every four or five days. relay in a single run.

That all changed last Wednesday, when Gwinnett needed a starter after Spencer Schwellenbach was called up to start for the major league club. Fletcher got the start for the Stripers and not only survived, he excelled.

Pitching five complete innings, Fletcher allowed just two runs on three hits, walking one and striking out six. He struck out eight straight batters at one point, throwing 60 fisticuffs on his 72 pitches at an average of just 64.1 mph. Despite the low speed, Fletcher caught 11 whiffs on the knuckler and an overall CSW of 33%.

The corresponding move for Waldrep’s promotion was Fletcher’s move to Double-A Mississippi, ostensibly to continue developing the knuckleball. There’s still a lot of work to do to make him a legitimate pitching option – Fletcher’s “fastball” in this start, of which he threw twelve, only averaged 79.1 mph and peaked at 82.9, without any whiffs (although none were brought into play). , neither.) – but it’s an interesting move that could pay dividends in the future if Fletcher picks it up.

The Braves have a history with knuckleballers, one of the greatest in baseball history and the last to win a Cy Young both befitting the franchise. Hall of Fame Phil Niekro spent the majority of his career playing for the Braves, starting in Milwaukee and moving to Atlanta with the franchise for the 1966 season.

In his combined years with the Braves, Niekro went 268-230 with a 3.20 ERA, making 595 starts in 21 years and pitching 4622.1 innings. He finished in the top six in the Cy Young Awards four times, but never won one, his best finish being 2nd place in 1969. Despite going 23-13 with a 2.56 ERA in 284, 1 innings, Niekro lost the 1969 Cy Young to the New York Mets starter. Tom Seaver, who led baseball with 25 wins and had a 2.21 ERA in his 273.1 innings.

(Also, although not a knuckleball player, Niekro’s nephew, JJ Niekro, is a pitcher for Double-A Mississippi.)

The Braves did, however, have a Cy Young-winning knuckleballer for the franchise, although he did not win it with the organization. R. A. Dickey pitched in Atlanta for the final season of his career, his age-42 season in 2017, going 10-10 with a 4.26 ERA. After several struggling years as a conventional starter, Dickey turned to the knuckleball and enjoyed a late-career renaissance, winning the 2012 Cy Young at age 37. He went 20-6 and beat out Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw after leading the NL in starts (33), complete games (5), shutouts (3), innings (233.2) and strikeouts (230).

The only current knuckleball player in baseball is the starter for the San Diego Padres Matt Waldronwho faced Atlanta last month and had one of the best starts of his career, striking out ten in 5.2 innings with just one run allowed in a 3-1 Padres victory.

David Fletcher is apparently working to be next.