TODAY: The Braves officially announced the selection of Waldrep’s contract this morning. Right-hander Daysbel Hernandez was optioned to the minors and Acuna was placed on the 60-day injured list in corresponding moves.
June 8: The Braves are calling up top pitching prospect Hurston Waldrep, according to multiple reporters (including MLB.com’s Mark Bowman). Waldrep will make his Major League debut on Sunday in a start against the Nationals, as Atlanta is giving Max Fried extra rest by pushing his next outing to Tuesday. A 40-man roster space will have be opened to accommodate Waldrep, though that could be easily accomplished by moving Ronald Acuna Jr. or Spencer Strider to the 60-day IL.
The move represents another aggressive promotion from the Braves, as it was less than a year ago that Waldrep was selected with the 24th overall pick of the 2023 draft. There was even some speculation that Waldrep was being considered for his MLB debut near the end of last season to give the Braves an extra high-powered bullpen arm for the playoffs, though the club opted against moving quite so quickly with the right-hander’s development. Even still, Waldrep has only 84 2/3 pro innings under his belt, and just two starts at the Triple-A level. Waldrep recorded 11 strikeouts over six innings with Triple-A Gwinnett last Sunday, allowing three earned runs on five hits and a walk in his first Triple-A outing of 2024.
This was enough to convince the Braves that Waldrep is ready for the Show, and the 22-year-old will now get an opportunity in what has become a revolving door of a fifth starter’s position. Atlanta’s top four of Fried, Reynaldo Lopez, Charlie Morton, and Chris Sale has been very solid, but since Strider underwent season-ending elbow surgery, six other pitchers have gotten starts in Strider’s place. None have achieved much success, so Waldrep might well get an extended look if he shows he can hang against big league hitters.
Waldrep was a consensus top-100 pick on preseason prospect rankings, with Baseball Prospectus (30th) and Baseball America (49th) the most bullish about his potential. (He was ranked 77th by ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel, 80th by The Athletic’s Keith Law had him 80th, and 90th by MLB Pipeline, though Waldrep is now 72nd on Pipeline’s updated in-season list.) There is universal acclaim for Waldrep’s splitter, which has upper-80s velocity and “completely falls off the table,” in the words of BA’s scouting report, leading to “ugly swings against hitters unable to hold back.” Beyond this signature pitch is a fastball that regularly sits in the mid-90s and can hit as high as 99mph, and he also has a plus slider.
Controlling this arsenal has always been something of an adventure for Waldrep, so perhaps the most intriguing number on his 2024 stat line is his 7.56% walk rate over 55 1/3 total innings at the Double-A and Triple-A levels. That is already a big upgrade from the 13% walk rate he posted in his first 29 1/3 pro innings in 2023, and if this improved command can continue in the majors, Waldrep has front-of-the-rotation potential. At the very least, Waldrep might profile as an elite closer down the road if he can’t stick as a starter, but naturally Atlanta will give him plenty of looks in the rotation before deciding on that step.
The obvious comparison here is with the hard-throwing Strider, and Strider might well have matched Waldrep’s first-round pedigree if he hadn’t undergone a Tommy John surgery in college. Of course, it would be asking an awful lot of Waldrep to match Strider’s meteoric rise to big league stardom, and if Waldrep is “only” a decent rotation arm in his first taste of the majors, that is still a huge achievement for a pitcher just a year removed from the University of Florida.
If Waldrep can stay on the Major League roster for this season and beyond, he’ll be in good position to earn an extra year of arbitration eligibility as a Super Two player. As per the Prospect Promotion Incentive qualification system, Waldrep can earn a full year of MLB service time if he finishes first or second in NL Rookie of the Year voting, though Waldrep would have to be truly exceptional to overtake the likes of Shota Imanaga, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jared Jones, or others who have excelled in the majors for the entire 2024 campaign.
Hurston Waldrep the Third????
Add a Jr to his name and it gives off NASCAR vibes
Thurston Howell the third??? Hopefully he pitches well and isn’t marooned and leaves runners stranded.
Especially during a three hour baseball game, a three hour baseball game.
Yeah but the redhead and the brunette make it all worthwhile
The same week little Buddy got sent down. Wonder what Greg Maddux and Lovie Smith have to say
I think they’d want him handled ‘Gingerly’.
Is it me or are tms extremely impatient with their top prospects & rushing them to the majors alot more now than before?
Braves are rushing their prospects due to a lack of depth in the system as many of their other arms other than Schwellenbach and Waldrep are either injured or ineffective.
Thats not a reason to rush your best arms, potentially hurting their development. Schwellenbach got absolutely rocked in his last start. Clearly not ready for the majors
Waldrep is 22. He’s not some 19 year old baby. If he can pitch, let’s see it. Decades ago it was FAR more common for teams to call up 18 and 19 year olds than it is today, so I see no issue.
Agreed.
Soroka says hi
Soroka was excellent before a freak Achilles injury. This was a dumb comment.
tell us more about how 22 yr olds are not babies hahaha tell us more how braves made the right choice calling up a potential superstar pitcher way before he’s ready to the majors. spread more of your wisdom with us
jesus f’in christ i hope the kid is ok and is not completely ruined for life with atlanta’s absolutely insane decision to call him up, then he gets absolutely shelled by the opposition like a sea lion gets devoured by a shark, and now he probly blew his elbow out.
And he will have to pitch a shutout to avoid losing the game.
That may not be enough.
Who is going to tell the Braves they need to overhaul 4 of 9 offensive positions (SS, 2B, LF/RF)?
Really… it’s too early…. Hope I’m wrong but I smell Kyle Wright 2.0 with this rush
Here’s a wild thought….sign some Free Agents in the off season to fill out the roster allowing your prospects to develop as needed smh.
There are veteran pitchers out there that are unsigned right now. Why they don’t just pick up someone like that to fill the void for now I have no clue. I know Matt Boyd, Rich Hill, and I think Noah Syndergaard are still out there, I’m sure there are more too. They would be better than throwing your prospects out there just to get scalped every 5 days.
Dallas Keuchel !!!
What in the Zack Greinke’s goin’ on around here…?
Prospects getting scalped. Ironically on one of the last injun chanting , tomahawk chop hand waving franchises
Is there a benefit or reason why teams don’t players on the 60 day IL when there’s no chance of them playing this year? Why are they waiting to move acuna and strider?
For some reason you are only allowed to move somebody to the 60-day IL if the 40-man roster is full. So people don’t get moved until they need to clear a 40-man slot.
Even so, they still DFA’d folks this season after strider went down. I understand not wanting to keep them for clubhouse purposes maybe, but ur on the hook for their salary regardless (or a certain portion). Might as well move strider to the 60 day IL and keep the depth as long as possible. Idk
The Braves have an extremely overrated future.
Bad Prospects
1b and catcher are gonna regress a ton
SP isn’t great at all
Harris has gotten figured out and is just a WAR darling
Acuna seems lazy
Their 2b finally understands the braves bad intentions in his contract
etc,etc
That’s… an opinion. It’s ridiculous, but hey, maybe you’re just trolling? I’m hoping, anyway. I worry if you “logically” came to those conclusions.
What a terrible take
“Acuna seems lazy” is such a dog whistle.
Dude why do you make your living s**t-posting on other team’s threads?
Aka Dog bone
Sounds like the name of a guy who donates a million bucks to his private college Alma mater to upgrade the student union building.
Winner
Liberal sreve How exactly does acuna seem lazy to you?
Poolhall,
I can’t see Liberal’s post, so I guess I muted him. If he’s calling Acuña lazy, I recommend you mute him, too.
Muted, again. So much for second chances.
Don’t take his bait, he’s just a flaming narcissist just here for attention
Bingo
Hurston Waldrep = Rt. Shoulder Pawn
The guy the Blue Jays should have drafted and could have played a role this year.
He’s not ready for the majors.
Well now, we’ll see!
Another top pitching prospect that the moronic Braves are going to ruin mentally and physically by rushing him to the majors. Hitting is their problem now not starting pitching. If the hitting does not heat up soon the Braves will be lucky to take one of the NL wildcard spots. And if the Braves do not stop screwing up their pitching prospects they will have many many more down years.
Once the “moronic” Braves stop making the playoffs for two + decades like your team, then maybe you can cry.
Pirates made the post-season in 2013, 2014, and 2015. A simple Google search.
Wow, super impressive. It’s 2024 according to my calendar. And then did they make it before 2013? Also, win any divisions?
Skenes is another top prospect the Bucs can’t/won’t keep, better hope they make a run with him before he starts going through arbitration
Will it be before or after his TJ surgery?
After he comes back from TJ for sure.
Braves not hitting but they still have the top wildcard spot. The way the playoffs have gone the past few years, the wild card spot may not be a bad thing as the wild card teams have gone deep into playoffs.
Go Gators!
sign Trevor Bauer already…..
No
Oh and why not?
Still can’t believe the league let him fall to Atlanta.
According to his bio profile. He was born in Cairo, GA. Which is about 3 and a half hours from Atlanta, according to google. Another hometown kid for Atlanta.
Some of the negative comments on here from fairweather ‘Braves fans’ and contributions from fans of other teams are just ridiculous and asinine. Waldrep is being called up to give Fried, Sale, Lopez, extra days rest. There’s absolutely nothing wrong calling up a guy with a stack of ability. It’s like as if the Braves are going to make him throw a stack of innings and he hasn’t even pitched in one game yet. What a joke.
The worst and most farcical response I’ve ever read on here is from a Pirates fan, the same Pirates organization that called up Skenes, yet here is this Pirates fan asserting – “Another top pitching prospect that the moronic Braves are going to ruin mentally and physically by rushing him to the majors.” What absolute nonsense and garbage.
Irrespective what Waldrep does in this start, it’s all part of his learning curve and acquiring experience, regardless of whether he stays up in the bigs in 2024 or not. Clueless Pirates fans and other detractors, find something else to criticize.
Braves hitting coach says the classic “braves batters are pressing “
New coach at all star break.
High WHIP could do him in. Love hometown picks that make it to hometown team
Wheres Waldrep?
Hopefully, after another failure coming out of the Braves pitching farm, they trade them all this summer for actual talent
They are not failures as pitchers, the Braves leadership are the failures for rushing prospects to the majors FAR too early. The Braves field manager and pitching and hitting coaches also stink on ice and should be fired.
Just hyperbole. The problem with the Braves (and fans) is they overrate their prospects. They are just shuffling a bunch of scrubs over and over and haven’t hit it since last season. They need to trade and overhaul the farm. They also need to overhaul the outfield (outside Harris) and middle infield positions (SS and 2B).
This team is hanging on by a thread and is alive due to their two main off-season acquisitions (Sale and Lopez). The core is not good to win the WS.
Opposite season . Ozuna is hitting, the rest are not.
Yet another promising pitching prospect rushed to the majors too soon and allowed to be bashed around before being pulled by the lousy Braves manager. How long it is going to take the idiotic Braves leadership to figure out that they are NOT going to get another Spencer Strider coming out of the lower minor leagues to be an immediate success at the major league level? PLEASE let these young pitchers develop in the minors fully before you totally wreck the Braves’ for the foreseeable future!!
This sounds like a made-up name.