The Braves have selected the contract of right-handed pitching prospect Bryce Elder in advance of tonight’s game, per a club announcement. Elder will start for the Braves and make his Major League debut. In a corresponding 40-man roster move, catcher Chadwick Tromp was designated for assignment. Atlanta also optioned lefty Tucker Davidson and catcher William Contreras to Triple-A Gwinnett.
Elder, 22, somewhat incredibly becomes the second Braves draftee from the shortened, five-round 2020 amateur draft to reach the Majors. He and teammate Spencer Strider have both had meteoric rises through the minors and now represent two of the just five players from the 2020 draft already in the Majors. Elder (fifth round) and Strider (fourth) are the only non-first-rounders from that draft already in the Majors.
Looking at last year’s numbers, it’s perhaps not a shock that Elder was such a quick riser. He opened the 2021 season with 45 innings of 2.60 ERA ball against older competition in Class-A Advanced before tossing 56 frames of 3.21 ERA ball upon promotion to the Double-A level. Elder was then bumped to Triple-A Gwinnett, where he logged a 2.21 ERA in 36 2/3 frames despite being one of the youngest pitchers in the league.
Elder kept his strikeout rate above 27% the entire time and also posted ground-ball rates of at least 53.6% at each level, although command was more of a concern. Elder walked 57 of the 559 batters he faced (10.2%) and was particularly spotty in that regard against more advanced hitters at the Triple-A level (13.6%).
Baseball America ranks Elder sixth among Braves farmhands, noting that while the system has more powerful arms, Elder is the prototypical “pitchability” starter who’s a good bet to hold a spot in a rotation due to a five-pitch mix headlined by a sinker, plus slider and above-average changeup. Improving on his command will be key to further development for Elder, but he’ll have the opportunity to do so at the MLB level given the lack of proven starters for the Braves at the moment. Max Fried, Charlie Morton and Ian Anderson are all secure in their rotation spots, but Kyle Wright, Huascar Ynoa and Tucker Davidson have not yet solidified themself as long-term options. Mike Soroka, meanwhile, is on the shelf until this summer as he rehabs an Achilles injury.
As for the 27-year-old Tromp, he’ll lose his roster spot after four productive games in Gwinnett, where he’s gone 5-for-14 with a home run and a double. Tromp spent the bulk of the past two seasons in the Giants organization, batting .215/.220/.418 in a tiny sample of 82 Major League plate appearances. Atlanta claimed him off waivers from San Francisco last September. Tromp didn’t have a productive 2021 season in Triple-A, where he’s a career .254/.314/.412 hitter in parts of five seasons.
The Braves will have a week to trade Tromp, place him on outright waivers or release him. Teams are always on the lookout for catching depth, so there’s always a chance that a 27-year-old catcher with a pair of minor league options remaining will find a new home on the waiver wire.
Just call the Indians and get Shane Bieber already.
Guardians *
*SPIDERS
INDIANS.
chippernine7:
Get treatment for your Schadenfreude
I bet you just learned that word in one of your woke articles and finally found a space to use that word, Interesting word though!
It’s weird people get so upset they can’t freely use an antiquated racist term, but everyone was perfectly okay removing the “Devil” from the Rays in Tampa.
Really weird. Like there should be some word to describe this situation…
*RICHMOND COUNTY REDNECKS
Tromp chop.
Tromp chomp.
Tromp chopped
Tromp chomped.
Just call the As and get Frankie Montas already.
Elder didn’t give up a hit in 2 GS during ST (7.2 IP) though his K:BB ratio was only 4:4. Elder’s ready. ATL has quite a few that just need some honing and if Kyle Wright is on…they have some time to try out a few guys. No need to panic. I’d rather be in search of a #5 than a #1.
Dude I almost read that as “didn’t give up s#*+” lol
Your Freudian slip, also called parapraxis
I think Elder and Strider will be pretty good as 4-5 inning starters. Not ready to be full time workhorses yet, but they’ve got good enough stuff to make it through the order a couple times. Excited to see how Elder does tonight.
He was awesome, then they brought him back out for the 6th inning, haha. Great debut!
Braves replace a man born to be a butler with one born to be a religious leader.
Fried got panned for throwing an egg? That was over easy.
*WORLD CHAMPIONS
Hopefully this has no bearing on Tromp’s HOF status.
Tromp getting that ring tho. Good for him. #FOREVERGIANT
Contreras was sent down to AAA, not recalled.
Just one letter away
Make the waiver wire great again.
SERIOUS POLL: Will the Braves win another World Series by 2030?
Tromp wants a recount.
Poor Chadwick — out of options and always on the Tromping block now. He is a good dude and I liked his stint in SF. He played well for the AAA River Cats. My boy still sports the ball cap Chadwick signed for him. Best of luck, Chadwick!
Tromp just needed to find 11,000 plate appearances for the Hall of Fame.
That’s “Wall of Fame” to you, Piggy
Tromp is gonna build his own wall of Fame and it will glorious, the best most unattainable wall ever, and the most solid, from the standpoint of concrete.
And he’ll make opposing pitchers pay for it, bigly.
I’m sure the Wakanda Rhino’s would pay him handsomely.
Elder is gonna be huge for us. Mark my words, floor is a really solid 5th starter… they say his ceiling is low. But he’s gonna be an ace… mark it down now. Maybe not today, but long term, he will
Elder won’t age well
Why is Fried out?
Hes not hes just gonna pitch tomorrow
It’s because of the shortened Spring Training (plus the long postseason).
Fried is injured. The Braves have reached out to us for reinforcements. Unfortunately, we are currently dealing with a surplus of injuries and expect more soon, so we are unable to give away our talent at this time.
@You Can Put It In The Books
Alliteration is good but you need to have more creativity. For example…
Wichita Warlocks
Zimbabwe Zebras
Dublin Dwarves
Nunavut Ninjas
Winnipeg Weasels
Delaware Dinos
Vancouver Voyagers
Rhode Island Rock-Monsters
When will this trend end…
It will end when either Cleveland or Seattle wins the World Series. I’m throwing in Seattle to give you slightly better odds.
Fair. The Marlins organization formally requests an invitation. We’ll provide a senior citizen to be named later.