The Braves have selected the contract of right-hander Bryse Wilson from Triple-A Gwinnett, tweets David O’Brien of The Athletic. The Braves have since announced that he’ll start tonight’s game in place of Kevin Gausman, who, along with the rest of the Atlanta rotation, has had his start pushed back a day (Twitter link via O’Brien).
While the Braves only needed to make a 25-man roster move to accommodate Wilson’s promotion, they announced pair of corresponding 40-man moves: infielder Ryan Flaherty has been designated for assignment, while left-hander Chad Bell has been outrighted off the 40-man roster.
Wilson, 20, opened the 2018 season at Class-A Advanced but has skyrocketed through Atlanta’s system, topping out in Triple-A recently. The hard-throwing righty was the organization’s fourth-round pick in 2016 and currently ranks 13th in a deep Braves farm system, per the midseason prospect update from Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com.
Wilson’s meteoric rise to the Majors began with 26 2/3 innings of 0.34 ERA ball in High-A to open the season. Those five starts earned him a promotion to Double-A Mississippi, where he posted a 3.97 ERA through 77 innings but turned in a much more impressive 2.77 FIP / 3.33 xFIP on the strength of 10.4 K/9, 3.0 BB/9, 0.35 HR/9 and a 44 percent ground-ball rate. He’s only made three starts in Triple-A so far, and while he had mixed results in his first two outings, his dominance against the Reds’ top affiliate last week landed him second on Baseball America’s Prospect Hot Sheet this week. BA’s J.J. Cooper noted that Wilson threw eight innings of one-hit ball without issuing a walk, facing the minimum number of hitters and racking up 13 strikeouts.
Remarkably, Wilson will join Mike Soroka, Kolby Allard and Ronald Acuna as prospects to debut in Atlanta before their 20th birthday this season. He draws praise for a fastball that sits 93-95 mph and can touch 97 mph with plenty of sink, as well as a slider and changeup that each have average or better potential.
Flaherty, 32, opened the season on a blistering hot streak for the Braves, but that was clearly unlikely to be sustained. The longtime Orioles utilityman managed a .315/.411/.435 slash through his first 107 plate appearance, but that production was buoyed by a .397 BABIP that was inevitably bound to regress. That has indeed been the case, as Flaherty has stumbled to catastrophic levels, going just 5-for-61 since mid-May while seeing his playing time evaporate.
Bell, meanwhile, has a 5.44 ERA In 41 1/3 innings for the Braves’ Triple-A affiliate after being claimed off waivers back in mid-May. Bell hasn’t had any issues missing bats (9.4 K/9), nor has he been especially generous in terms of yielding walks (2.6 BB/9) or home runs (0.65 HR/9). He has, however, been plagued by a .385 BABIP and a 64.7 percent strand rate. While fielding-independent pitching metrics are generally bullish on his work in Gwinnett, he went unclaimed on waivers and will remain with the Braves without occupying a 40-man spot.
Is it best to say Braves have the best 21 and under talent in the majors?
I’d agree, I’d have to look at ages for padres and blue Jays, but other than that yeah
The only other player I can think of is Soto. Acuna may not have his OBP, but he beats him in just about everything else. #GetHyped
Braves fWAR, 21 and younger (before tonight): 6.4
Rest of MLB’s fWAR, 21 and younger (before tonight): 5.8
That’s right, the Braves have a greater contribution (by fWAR) from players 21 and younger than the rest of MLB combined.
So the fact that we haven’t heard anything about Harper/Murphy probably means they’ve both been claimed and the Nats are seeing if they can make a deal, which they have 48 hours to do, right?
Any chance Harper got past the NL West teams?
They are all near their limits on spending. Rockies could use him though. If they sent salary the other way…
But Diamondbacks/Rockies might have better record then Cubs/Braves/Phils and Dodgers have no room for hm Harper.
One hell of a change up at 9 mph
I’m pretty sure 9 mph isn’t even velocity to make it even halfway to the plate
I love waffles, they’re better than pancakes
Don’t sleep on French toast
No big deal., but all of those players are (or were) already 20 at their debut. I guess it’s supposed to say 21st birthday.
Debut before there 21st birthday, not 20th
Testing
Another excellent young starter to make his debut for the Braves this year…
I certainly don’t expect Wilson to perform as well as Touki or Soroka, but he is certainly capable of giving Atlanta a quality start..
All of the Braves prospects/rookies this season have had fantastic debuts and following performances, with the exception of Kolby Allard..
Minter, Carle (technically), Sobotka, Acuña Jr., Soroka, and Touki have all contributed towards the Braves lead in the NL East this year, to varying degrees of course.. Hopefully, Wilson, Riley, Gohara, and possibly even Kyle Wright can all come up, join the squad, and help the Braves secure an unexpected playoff spot..!!
I wonder if Michael Reed replaces Flaherty.
As these young guys get older and more experienced, the Braves are going to be an incredible team
Are they going to be able to overcome the Cubs dynasty that started a few years ago on the foundation of a stacked roster of young talent?
Cubs, a dynasty? Really?
Braves of the 90s were a dynasty
Cubs went to the pennant three years in a row
Sure it’s a stretch but they’re right there
I’m not saying the Braves are the only good young team in baseball, I’m just saying that they’ll be one of them
Not as good as the padres will be
Who is going to drive Markakis to the ballpark now?
Maybe the Braves are making room for a Logan Forsythe acquisition…
Yuck. We need a left handed bat. If the braves wanted Forsythe, they would have claimed him
I seriously thought that said braves select Brian Wilson
Well, since he’s on the team , I hope we get another Pet Sounds (underrated, but successful) over a Smile (very risky, but never reached the hype that was projected for it.)
How the heck is Kolby Allard a better prospect than what I saw tonight? Bryse was very impressive, I doubt there’s 12 better guys in the system than him.
If u follow his progression, it’s hard to understand why he’s not a higher rank prospect. The reasoning is because he’s not exactly projectable with his size and his stuff isn’t exactly nasty. He has a good fastball and hits his spots extremely well. He put up video game #’s in A ball. Honestly in my opinion, he’s a better pitcher than most and is more mlb ready than the others. He’s a classic bulldog which is exactly what the braves need. I honestly think allard has potential to be a better pitcher, he just need a tad more time to build confidence.
At 6’1 and 225 his size is fine and his secondary stuff looked good enough. More importantly, he hit his spots and if you’re running a fastball at 97 and can locate you’ll be fine. Allard is a small guy that has an 89 mph fastball that he cruises right across the plate. He was the most disappointing prospect I’ve seen in a long time. If he doesn’t bulk up and consistently throw 91-93, he’ll be a LOOGY at best.
Wilson looked awesome! Was very excited to see him come up. That young pitching movement is starting to crowd our rotation. Be interested to see who is moved in the future. I’m willing to bet Teheran might be traded this offseason if this youth keeps proving their worth
If Wilson is 20, Allard 21, and Soroka 21, how did they all debut before their 20th birthday this season?
Allard was 20 yrs old on July 31, 2018., his MLB debut. He turned 21 on August 13, 2018.
Soroka was 20 yrs old on May 1, 2018, his MLB debut. He turned 21 on August 4, 2018..
Yes? The author states that they all made their debut “before their 20th birthday this season”. Soroka turned 20 on August 4, 2017. Explain how he pitched in 2018 before August 13, 2017–his 20th birthday.
Allard turned 20 on August 13, 2017. Again, he did not make his debut this year before this date.
Bryse Wilson turned 20 on December 20, 2017. He made his debut yesterday. This also was not “before his 20th birthday this season”.