The Braves announced that they have signed right-hander Connor Gillispie to a one-year, non-guaranteed contract. Financial terms were not disclosed. They have multiple openings on their 40-man roster and won’t need to make a corresponding move. Bob Nightengale of USA Today (X link) reported the deal prior to the official announcement.
Gillispie, 27, just made his major league debut in 2024. Though he was drafted by the Orioles in 2019 and was with them through the 2023 season, the Guardians nabbed him in the minor league phase of last year’s Rule 5 draft. Cleveland selected him to the big league roster in August and he tossed eight innings for them down the stretch, allowing two earned runs. Last week, the Guardians added four players to their roster to protect them from this year’s Rule 5, with Gillispie designated for assignment to open a spot.
He was later non-tendered and became a free agent without being exposed to waivers, with Atlanta quickly offering him a roster spot to get him off the market. The brief major league debut wasn’t much to go on, so Atlanta has presumably been enticed by his minor league work. Gillispie tossed 113 1/3 Triple-A innings in a swing role this year, making 15 starts and 12 relief appearances. He allowed 4.05 earned runs per nine innings, striking out 25% of opponents against a 10.1% walk rate while surrendering 22 home runs.
That’s roughly similar to the work he did in the Orioles’ system. From 2021 to 2023, he tossed 292 2/3 innings in the minors, starting 50 of his 73 appearances. He had a 4.15 ERA, 23.8% strikeout rate and 9.3% walk rate in that time while allowing 48 long balls.
Perhaps Atlanta will try to move Gillispie to the bullpen on a more permanent basis, as he posted a 4.68 ERA as a starter this year but a 2.63 mark in relief. However it plays out, Gillispie still has options and just a few days of service time, meaning he can theoretically be cheaply retained well into the future if he continues to hang on to his roster spot. Atlanta’s pitching staff just lost Max Fried, Charlie Morton, A.J. Minter, Jesse Chavez and John Brebbia to free agency, while Joe Jiménez recently underwent knee surgery and could miss the entire 2025 season.
Thought this was Conor Gillaspie
Thought it was Connor Joe.
I thought it was Lou Sassoll.
Thought it said Forrest Gump
Thought it was cotton eye Joe!
Surprised the Dodgers didn’t sign him first.
No way! I thought it was Lucas Gilbreath. Maybe it’s time for bi-focals.
I liked his game while at Villanova, but I don’t see how he fits in with the Braves. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collin_Gillespie
Proud that he’s a VCU Ram
Go Rams!!
We got a few decent MLB guys here and there
No way major league contract
From what I just read it’s a non-guaranteed contract. I guess we’ll find out more soon
The Braves run circles around people with the split/non-gurabteed ML/low-cost ML contracts they hand out.
Yeah that 4.69 era in the international league makes this a real good move lol
*4.05
@darkside I stand corrected, I was looking at ra9 for some reason
Only because they avoid any bigger Free Agents signings like the plague….All these minor signings kinda telegraphs AA won’t be in on any Free Agents of substance yet again smh
But he’s great at swinging trades. It’s still early on give the man some time he’s one of the best GM’s in the league. The braves still made the playoffs and in all honesty we had a terrible year for braves standards. Nobody could stay healthy and the ones that did had very uncharacteristically down years. I expect positive rebounds from all of Matt Olson, Sean Murphy, Austin Riley, and Ozzie Albie’s. I expect a better year from Michael Harris, and if healthy I expect a big year from acuna again to show he’s still one of the faces of baseball. Our pitching staff is great and with another starter or two to replace fried, or god willing he comes back, plus another couple bullpen arms and the braves will definitely challenge the dodgers as one of the best NL teams if not the best in the majors. We have the talent to win, the pieces just didn’t click this past year and we still made the playoffs. That should be a testament to how good the braves are and can be. A huge part of that is AA and his uncanny ability to swing trades that always seem to be in the braves favor outside maybe a handful, and his ability to lock players down to make sure we contend for years to come is awesome. The braves are in good shape. I personally have all the faith in the world in them rebounding and winning 95 or more games this season. Feel free to come back and dog on me if I end up being completely wrong lol
@braves When the “minor signings” are minor league deals they don’t mean anything in regards to 40 or 26 man rosters. Those still need to be filled and the minor league deals are inconsequential towards them.
Phillies fans will always be thankful the Braves outbid the Phillies for Bossman Jr. Upton.
I thought it was Giuseppe Pizza or Giuseppe Zanotti Shoes!
Sworn he played for the Giants or DBacks a few years ago?
Connor Gollaspie. Not a pitcher.
It’s Gillaspie instead of Gillespie but definitely not Gollaspie
Kendrick Lamar is the goat
no big 3, nah just big me
Conner will be the long man spot starter if Holmes gets the 5th/6th start job?
Josh Tomlin 2.0
Don’t get me excited like that jeez
Connor “was later non-tendered and became a free agent without being exposed to waivers…” Is that last part basically a distinction without a difference? I mean what would have been the difference at this point whether he was passed thru waivers vs. becoming a free agent ?? How would the outcome be any different??
If he was placed on waivers every team would have had a chance to claim him. He wasn’t. Thay explains why this was a FA signing and not a claim.
Y’all this isn’t a bad signing. 2.63 in relief and if he sucks you owe nothing. Every team needs a 7th inning guy.
Agreed, but what used to be 7th inning guys are now 4th inning guys.
The O’s are going to regret this guy being snatched out of the org. He looked fine in Cleveland.
YOUR MOVE DODGERS.
While the article notes his minor league numbers and his brief stint in the majors, it fails to address the glaring concerns about Gillispie’s consistency, high home run rate, and overall lack of proven major league success. His 4.05 ERA in Triple-A and 22 home runs allowed in 113 innings highlight potential struggles at the major league level, especially in a competitive environment like Atlanta’s.
it sounds like he’s already cooked before the Atlanta heat started.