The Braves announced Thursday that they’ve released right-hander Cal Quantrill and designated infielder/outfielder Luke Williams for assignment. That duo’s roster spots will go to outfielder Jurickson Profar, who’s returning from the paternity list, and righty Daysbel Hernandez, who has been recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett.
Quantrill’s time with Atlanta will last all of two weeks. The Braves claimed the righty off waivers from the Marlins on Aug. 21, absorbing the remaining $715K on his $3.5MM salary in the process. They’ll end up getting just two starts for that roll of the dice; Quantrill allowed three runs on five hits and five walks in 4 2/3 innings against the Mets on Aug. 23 before being shelled for nine runs in 3 1/3 innings against the Phillies five days later. His Atlanta stint concludes with a grisly 13.50 ERA in eight innings.
It’s been a rough year on the whole for the veteran Quantrill, whose Braves struggles pushed his ERA to 6.04 in 117 2/3 innings. That unsightly endpoint masks what was a decent run midseason. Quantrill struggled immensely in April but posted a 3.55 ERA, 21.3% strikeout rate and 5.6% walk rate in 14 starts from May 1 through the end of July.
A team in need of innings could sign Quantrill for the final three weeks of the regular season and would only owe him the prorated minimum, but there’s also a chance this will be the end of his season. He’ll be a free agent this winter regardless, but with a 5.39 ERA dating back to 2023, he’ll likely be limited to minor league offers in free agency.
Williams, 29, has been with the Braves since they claimed him off waivers in June 2023, but he’s spent the bulk of his time in Gwinnett. Atlanta has given Williams a total of 94 plate appearances in the majors, during which he’s slashed .153/.215/.212. (He’s also held opponents to four runs in 10 innings of mop-up relief.)
A third-round pick of the Phillies back in 2015, Williams has never hit much in the majors. He’s a career .213/.271/.281 batter in 348 turns at the plate but carries a steadier .259/.338/.406 slash in parts of five Triple-A seasons. Williams has primarily been a third baseman since turning pro but has more than 300 innings at each of the four infield positions and in both outfield corners.
Now that he’s been designated for assignment, Williams will head to outright waivers. Assuming he clears, he’ll be able to reject a minor league assignment in favor of free agency by virtue of the fact that he’s previously ben outrighted in his career.
Cal had a rough 5 game stretch there.
Oh no! I was hoping Luke could perfect his eephus pitch and become the Braves’ closer next year. Maybe he’ll go down to Gwinnett and work on expanding his repertoire. 🙂
Oh well, if this is the end of the road for Luke as a Braves, at least he ended it with a hit last night.
This may be oversimplifying it, but of Atlanta is just picking up mid at best pitchers to eat innings in a season to nowhere, then releasing them again and again, even at a cheap pro-rated rate, they’re eating the rest of that salary once they drop them and get nothing in return, not even lousy starts. Why not just have them pitch until the year is done? Seems like a minor waste of money on contract after contract, but a waste of money nonetheless.
Possibly, but some of the guys they’re picking up for next to nothing have proven success and hoping not only to eat innings, but see if they are change of scenery candidates with something left in the tank. Considering the work they need to do in the bullpen for 2026 — and reinforcements in the rotation to prevent what happened this year (again) — there’s plenty of opportunities for a roster spot if they excel. Carrasco/Quantrill were failing miserably and they’ve made the decision pretty easy on the FO not even to give them garbage time.
@Run: Yep. Wentz has worked out reasonably well. Decent chance of him providing depth next season in the 5/6/7 rotation spot or as the long man in the pen. Kept one, culled three. Good enough for waiver pickups.
….although Fedde was via trade.
Now that Sale’s back and Elder is pitching better what use would those guys be? A bit of an exaggeration too. It was 2 guys right? Both pitched poorly and the rotation rounded out okay for now.
Three including Carasco and Fedde, but yes. Assume maybe they will give young guys a start or two if needed at this point…
Hernandez just threw a 3 Run HR Gofer Ball at AAA Gwinnett last night along with a walk and only got one out! REALLY? That’s the best bullpen option?
@AL: Would rather see Blake Burkhalter.
Maybe AA thinks having 3 rookies make their ML debut out of the pen this month is too much. Imo, it’s not. Let’s see what they’ve got before AA goes pen shopping this winter.
Time to go to Toronto and become a full time reliever like dad did
Cal, we hardly knew ya. Thank God.
Drat. I really hope Luke either resigns or continues racking up service time for someone else.. Seems like a good guy who’s always ready.
Once again Cal is available to anyone interested.
Williams is garbage. I hope he is one forever from the Braves.