Braves right-hander Hurston Waldrep is dealing with soreness in his throwing elbow, and will visit Dr. Keith Meister tomorrow in Dallas for a consultation, manager Walt Weiss told reporters (including MLB.com’s Mark Bowman). Waldrep has already undergone an MRI that didn’t reveal any structural damage, though the scan did reveal some “loose bodies,” as Weiss described the matter.
“There’s some things in there that shouldn’t be there, I guess. I think it’s fairly common with pitchers,” Weiss said. “I don’t want to elaborate on the loose bodies, because I’m not totally sure, but it probably needs to be dealt with. I don’t know what that looks like as far as procedure or anything, but I guess Dr. Meister will let us know.”
Selected 24th overall in the 2023 draft, Waldrep made his MLB debut less than a year after his draft date, though he was tagged for a 16.71 ERA over his first two starts and seven innings. The righty was then placed on the 15-day injured list due to elbow inflammation and spent about six weeks on the shelf before he was activated and optioned back to Triple-A for the remainder of the 2024 season.
Waldrep didn’t return to the Show until last August, and made a much better impression the second time around. Waldrep started nine of his 10 appearances, delivering a 2.88 ERA, 49.7% grounder rate, 24% strikeout rate, and 9.6% walk rate over 56 1/3 innings. While the lack of control left something to be desired, Waldrep did an excellent job of limiting big contact (4% barrel rate) and both his splitter and 95.9mph sinker were plus pitches.
This solid performance didn’t guarantee Waldrep a spot in the 2026 rotation, as the Braves were seemingly set with a projected top five of Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Reynaldo Lopez, Grant Holmes, and Spencer Schwellenbach. There was also an expectation that Atlanta would pursue more starting pitching this winter in a nod to the injury concerns that their incumbent starters dealt with in both 2025, and throughout their careers.
Though Spring Training has just gotten underway, the injury bug has already made an unwelcome return to the Braves’ camp. Schwellenbach has already been placed on the 60-day IL due to elbow inflammation, and now Waldrep looks to probably be facing some kind of IL stint. Even if the visit to Dr. Meister doesn’t led to any major developments, the Braves will probably shut Waldrep down until his discomfort lessens, and a season-opening stint on at least the 15-day IL seems likely so Waldrep can complete his pre-season ramp-up.
With Waldrep out of the picture, Bryce Elder, Joey Wentz, Didier Fuentes, and minor league signings Martin Perez and Carlos Carrasco remain in the competition for Atlanta’s fifth starter job. On paper, the Braves still have a good amount of rotation depth, though the argument that the team could or should acquire more starting pitching has only gotten louder in the wake of these latest injury concerns.
President of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said on Friday that the team remained on the hunt for more of a front-of-the-rotation type that could start a playoff game, rather than a pure depth starter. Looking at the list of remaining free agent starters, Lucas Giolito (who has been linked to the Braves on the rumor mill), Max Scherzer, or Zack Littell could potentially fit the bill, though it might be hard seeing any of that trio displace a healthy Sale, Strider, or Lopez as Atlanta’s top choices in a playoff rotation. Obviously, the first concern for the Braves in the wake of a 76-86 season is just to get into the postseason altogether, and a lack of healthy pitching was one of the key reasons behind Atlanta’s disappointing 2025 campaign.
I quit I quit I quit I quit.
Why am I envisioning Bryce Elder as our Opening Day starting pitcher???
LMAO. A couple more weeks and yep.
Dude sounds like an Agatha Christie murder victim
The injury bug is here
When I get therapy and they asked what’s bothering me and I will say the Atlanta flipping Braves!!!
I just came for “the sky is falling ” comments. I am not disappointed.
braves cant keep ANY of their sp healthy!
this is getting insane
Pitchers all over Major league baseball are constantly hurt or getting hurt. I am so sick of it. All these pitchers doing the same thing hoping for different results? Gotta throw 150 miles an hour I guess.
injury pandemic for pitchers has been going on for several years now… kids in little lg are taught to throw harder, faster. high schoolers, college, minors, throw 100 or get out. its the nature of the business. if you dont do it faster someone else will. at this point its become commonplace for a pitcher to go down with TJ or elbow injury pretty much every day…nobody cares, not the commish, not owners, not coaches… very sad…
Yes, it has been going on for years now. It’s just mind-boggling to me. The injuries and the shortened careers should give everybody pause but it doesn’t. It’s beyond stupid. It’s not pitching. It’s launching a baseball at maximum velocity. And they just keep doing it over and over and over. Whatever.
i think with certain organizations its a little more commonplace… look at tampa. their coaches develop their pitching prospects and teach new pitchers they acquire thru trade to pitch differently. different mechanics, different styles. it almost always works. many pitchers have turned around their careers in tampa. but then a yr or 2 after success, those pitchers all go down with TJ. braves cannot experience this many injuries to their pitchers (strider, schwelly, shawver, ritchie, and now waldrep) without doing something wrong with their development/coaching methods.
Totally agree. It’s just such a widespread problem and people seem to have no problem with making it worse. It defies logic. I don’t know what else to say.
Hate to say this, but even in the early 80’s it was the same way. Travelling coaches, even back then, always went for power pitchers. It didn’t matter if you pitched 15 straight shutout innings (as I did once, which is tough be a soft-thrower with 12 year old defense), you would still get looked over for a guy with an 8+ ERA who could throw bullets. It will never change.
BTW – It’s not fastball velocity for most of them. It’s spin rate and always over-throwing the hard breaking stuff. Sliders are just horrible on an arm. Splitters are just about as bad. That being said, if someone can’t read a swing/stance/foot placement, the hard stuff will tend to help them overcome the inability to actually ‘pitch’..
Uga stop. I’ve been around for a long time. There is an injury epidemic at this time. Yeah it’s always been great to have a pitcher who could throw 100 miles an hour but you seem to be over analyzing this just a little bit. I don’t know if you haven’t watched baseball in a long time or what but these guys aren’t the same as they were 20-30 years ago. I’m not trying to argue with anybody but injuries in baseball in general are off the charts and there’s really no good reason for it.
@Shadowpartner-
Younger fans will never know what it was like BITD, when you could actually get attached to pitchers without having to constantly worry about their next pitch being their last pitch for a year and a half or more :-/
King I agree. I go to click on some baseball news in the morning during the season and so many times the first story is somebody getting hurt gonna be out for the rest of his life it seems like.
49ers=Braves
The Braves better sign somebody before the entire rotation has sore elbows. You can’t go through a season like last year and learn nothing from it.
If Waldrep needs the surgery, just get it over with now so we don’t waste his potential. I am more worried about Reynaldo López holding up for a full season, given his rotation spot. And, well, Schwell isn’t Schwell enough to start the season because of his injury, so the depth chart looks a little shaky. If the choice is between Giolito and Elder, give me Giolito every day of the week because we need that upside right now.
It really highlights how fragile modern pitching has become compared to the past. I was looking back at the Big Three’s numbers, and they were machines. Maddux averaged 228 innings, Glavine 227, and Smoltz 229 as starters in Atlanta. They rarely broke down either. Smoltz had his elbow issue in his 30s, but he came back to reinvent himself and became the only player in history to join the 200-win, 150-save club. That level of durability just doesn’t exist anymore.
Nowadays, we celebrate a guy for hitting 190 innings like he is a supreme workhorse, and it feels like the bar has been lowered so much. I remember hearing Glavine on a Braves broadcast saying that babying these guys and micromanaging their innings is actually what is leading to more injuries because their arms never build up that old-school endurance. Unless they are actively recovering from something, just let them throw because the current approach clearly isn’t saving anyone.
I also think a lot of young players are playing only baseball in school, rather than multiple sports. Your body needs variety to remain balanced, and they aren’t getting variety.
Pitchers hurting their elbows lol. Never ends. Everybody just keep throwing like lunatic maniacs because that’s not the problem.
That genie is never going back in the bottle because modern hitters are too good for everybody to go back to throwing 85-90 mph with far less break.
It’s a problem without a solution.
10 months of travel ball for years. The industry encouraging max effort max velocity. The Braves are only the beginning. This is going to be an issue for everyone soon enough.
Oh, and btw, shame on AA for not adding more pitching this off-season. They had plenty of other health question marks.
Sure, shame on him for not, but there are still quality arms available — Zach Littell/Lucas Giolito — not costing a draft pick, Littell rung up 180 IP last year. Giolito has a higher ceiling (and price tag) but also can eat innings. This can still happen, the insanity is seeing Schwellenbach/Waldrep beset by injuries already and NOT doing anything.
Yeah! Scwellenbach was a few days ago, and Waldrep was yesterday. Why haven’t they done something!!!
They have to sign somebody…right?
Any reasonable hope I had is being tested.
And it begins….
Too bad. Especially since Gallen was available for the entire offseason.
This sucks
Um hello, OOF Department?
Gallen kicking himself for not waiting to sign a couple more days…
He made it a point in saying that he didn’t want to hold out for “a few million more” rather than already getting into camp and most likely in familiar (read: comfortable) surroundings.
This team is a dumpster fire. 72-90.
I really miss Max Fried
I’m glad Gallen signed before this happened.
In the comment section for Schwellenbach’s injury people were hoping it meant Waldron would make the rotation. Now he is out. Rough for Braves fans. The team has some depth at least.