Atlanta announced a series of camp cuts today. Arguably, the most notable name in the bunch is that of right-handed pitching prospect JR Ritchie, who has been reassigned to minor league camp.
Ritchie is still quite young, turning 23 in June, and isn’t on the 40-man roster. He didn’t come into spring training with a great path to a season-opening roster spot but his odds kept improving as guys ahead of him on the depth chart kept dropping off.
Spencer Schwellenbach hit the 60-day injured list as soon as camp opened due to elbow inflammation. Hurston Waldrep also had an elbow issue pop up and both pitchers underwent surgeries to remove loose bodies from their elbows. Their respective timelines aren’t clear but each will likely be out for at least a few months. A few weeks later, Joey Wentz tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, meaning he’s already done for the year.
Those three subtractions nudged Ritchie into the conversation. Atlanta still had Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Reynaldo López and Grant Holmes in four spots but those guys all have varying levels of health question marks. Bryce Elder, José Suarez, Martín Pérez and others were around as options for the fifth spot, with Ritchie potentially in that mix as well.
Last year, Ritchie surged from High-A to Double-A and then Triple-A. Across those three levels, he posted a 2.64 earned run average. His 9.6% walk rate was close to par while his 24.8% strikeout rate and 49.6% ground ball rate were both a bit better than average. He popped up at the back end of most top 100 prospect lists coming into this year.
In the small sample of spring training, Ritchie did his best to force his way into the picture. He made four starts with a 2.25 ERA. His 11.6% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 32.6% of batters faced and induced grounders on 45.5% of balls in play.
The club had different paths available, with pros and cons to each. Ritchie is the upside play and he would have put the Prospect Promotion Incentive on the table, but giving him a shot would have meant sacrificing depth. Elder and Suarez are both of options. If they don’t have spots on the active roster, they would need to be removed from the 40-man. Pérez can opt out of his minor league deal if not added to the roster.
If Ritchie had the fifth starter spot, one other pitcher could be in the bullpen as a long reliever but they would probably have to let go of at least one, if not two of those other guys. By sending Ritchie down to start the season in the minors, they can perhaps have Elder in the fifth starter spot, with Suarez and/or Perez in the bullpen.
It seems Atlanta will take the latter path, which has less upside but allows them to keep more arms in the mix. It’s an understandable decision, given the likelihood of further injuries. Sale has been very injury prone in recent years, making more than 20 starts just once since 2019. Strider missed most of 2024 recovering from elbow surgery and was mediocre in his return last year. López made just one start in 2025 due to shoulder surgery. Holmes was diagnosed with a partial tear of his ulnar collateral ligament last year. He opted for non-surgical rehab and now appears healthy but there’s naturally still some worry about him going forward.
Teams generally need 10 to 15 starters to get through a season. Atlanta has already seen their depth tested. With plenty of question marks still in the mix, it’s defensible to opt for preserving what they have. Time will tell how they juggle the Elder, Suarez and Pérez mix. Ritchie will head to Triple-A and try to position himself to get a call when the time comes.
Photo courtesy of Kim Klement Neitzel, Imagn Images
Pretty sure we’ll see him by ~mid-April either way.
Outside of a trade it looks like Fuentes has made the team.
Sounds like Fuentes gets optioned and Martin Perez Elder and Saurez make the team.
Looks like Dodd makes the team also.
You saw wrong apparently……
Didlet hasn’t given up a hit in a number of innings. It’s a 18-6 braves spring training record, they’re showing they don’t need a Gialito.
Didier has pitched a de-facto perfect game last 2 outings which is awesome!…They need Giolito for rotation upside and depth, what they don’t need is 5er pitcher holding down the 5th spot in Elder.
No they don’t need Giolito. They already have enough guys on the IL, which is where he would be.
He’ll be back, so will Fuentes.
I’m betting Ritchie will be up in a month and will be in the rotation to stay by June.
And he’ll pitch a lot better than Giolito will.
No Happy Days for Ritchie.
Such a shame. He deserved that 5th starters job.
It’s about free agency they keep him down bring him up and don’t loose a year earlier to free agency. Everyone does it
They don’t want to have to release Elder to give JR his spot. Elder is bad, but he’s a reliable arm who can make a start every 5 or 6 days. As soon as someone gets hurt Ritchie coming up.
Still do not know why we did not add a starter in the offseason.
Elder, Suarez, Fuentes, Ritchie, and the expected in-season returns of Schwellenbach and Waldrep.
Additional cost: $0.00
They may go for a DH after June 15 with some of the funds saved from Profar’s suspension.
I know why they didn’t add Giolito. Because he sucks and is constantly injured.
We didn’t add a starter, because none of them offered a big enough upgrade over what the Braves have in-house.
Yes, the Braves have injury concerns in their rotation. However, the price for the free agent starters was more than AA was willing to pay. AA was looking for a specific type of pitcher; young, controllable, frontline starter potential, and affordable. He didn’t find it.
Like others have said, we have Waldrep and Schwellenbach both due back in June or July. They also have AJ Smith-Shawver who a lot of people forgot about that could be back in the middle of the season. He had his TJ surgery early June of last year, so July or August is a realistic possibility.
The curse of being young and not wanting to start the clock or having options. If it were based on spring results, he earned a spot. But the business side of it really stinks sometimes