While the Atlanta Braves didn't make many big moves to their pitching this offseason, they have absolutely loaded up on MLB veteran relievers coming off of down seasons. On Monday morning, they added yet another reliever, signing Hector Neris to a minor league deal.
Neris, who was a part of the 2022 Houston Astros World Series team, started his career with the Philadelphia Phillies and has also had a brief stint with the Chicago Cubs.
Braves signed Hector Neris. He’s an NRI who’ll be in camp today. That means there are 49 players in big-league camp.
— Justin Toscano (@JustinCToscano) March 3, 2025
Braves continue to add bullpen depth with Hector Neris
Hector Neris is just two seasons removed from a season where he threw 68.1 innings with a 1.71 ERA, but the majority of his career plays much more like a middle innings guy, even if he does have 107 career saves.
The 35-year-old won't wow fans with his velocity, as his 92.9 MPH four-seamer rates well below average in speed, but it is an effective pitch, as batters only managed a .226 average against the pitch last season. The righty also throws a splitter 40% of the time, as well as two seldom used pitches in a sinker and slider.
Still Neris was overall a fairly middling pitcher last season. In 59.1 innings between Chicago and Houston, the righty put up a 4.10 ERA and a 4.28 FIP. He struggled with walks in Chicago, losing his job as a closer, before being cut and ending back up in Houston.
With Houston, his walk rate dropped from 13.3% to 3.1% and his strikeout rate rose from 23.5% to 28.1%, which would seemingly indicate that he ended his year on a good note. Unfortunately, his home run rate more than tripled, from 2.0% to 6.3%, which resulted in a 4.70 ERA with the Astros in the last month of the season.
The final few spots in the bullpen are anyone's game and Neris likely has just as good of a chance of breaking camp on the big league roster as the other dozen relievers still in camp with the Braves. The righty does give the Braves yet another option to choose from, and his overall body of work indicates that he can at least be a decent option as long as the club doesn't expect him to be the closer (or even the setup man).