Atlanta Braves fans were greeted by the news this week that Didier Fuentes was getting called back up to the major leagues. Fans have been eager to give the young arm a shot after looking great in spring training. While his return to the majors against the Nationals on Wednesday evening did not go particularly smoothly, it looks like it may have forced the Braves to finally give JR Ritchie a chance.
Ritchie has been performing at a high level in the minors all season long, but found himself the odd man out since he wasn't on the 40-man roster and Atlanta was trying to preserve as much pitching depth as possible. However, with Fuentes only throwing three innings on Wednesday night against Washington and the Braves needing to use Martin Perez to cover multiple innings in relief, the stage was set and the Braves are bringing Ritchie up to make his MLB debut on Thursday.
Braves To Select JR Ritchie https://t.co/ywF706YsMQ pic.twitter.com/hmOOUmmbXm
— MLB Trade Rumors (@mlbtraderumors) April 23, 2026
Braves to call up JR Ritchie, send Didier Fuentes back to Triple-A
This is a pretty classic "Gwinnett Shuttle" situation aside from the need to add Ritchie to the 40-man roster. The Braves are on the road at the moment without a day off until next Monday. Neither Fuentes nor Perez (who was originally slated to start on Thursday) are going to be available, so the Braves needed to bring a starter up and Ritchie was easily the best choice.
This could be exciting as Ritchie has long been one of the Braves' better pitching prospects who started getting some national attention in 2025. Ritchie features a very diverse arsenal including a fastball that generally averages in the mid-90's, a plus slider, improving changeup that plays very well off of his fastball.
One hopes that Ritchie can get to Washington quickly and get settled in before starting a day game (Thursday day games remain very weird), but what the Braves really need from him is innings. The bullpen needs a bit of a breather after Reynaldo Lopez only lasted one inning earlier this week in addition to Fuentes short outing. If Atlanta can just get a quality start out of Ritchie, that could be huge heading into a tough home series against the Phillies.
Add us as a preferred source on Google