The Atlanta Braves suffered a tough fate with their starting rotation in 2025. Every single pitcher from the Opening Day rotation landed on the injured list at some point. This led to a revolving door of pitchers helping the team get through the season.
There were some nice surprises, but also a few disasters along the way. Hopefully, this is not the fate for Atlanta's rotation in 2026. The Braves need to look at adding at least one pitcher via free agency or trade this offseason.
With a couple of their internal options recovering from elbow injuries, they must find a suitable external option. Let's take a look at a potential dream rotation for the Braves next season.
Here is a dream Braves rotation that fans would love to see in 2026
There are a couple of pitchers that will be reappearing on this list from the 2025 rotation. Those three pitchers would be Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, and Hurston Waldrep. These are the pitchers that we are fairly confident will be in the rotation.
Sale had another incredible season. Had he not suffered an injury ahead of the All-Star Game, he may have been in the running for the NL Cy Young Award. Sale completed the season with a 2.58 ERA over 125 innings with 32 walks and 165 strikeouts. He is the ace of this staff, and if he's able to stay healthy, Atlanta will be thrilled to have him at the top of the rotation.
Strider didn't have a great season after returning from his UCL surgery in the offseason. His velocity wasn't what he's used to, and it caused him to struggle mightily. A 4.45 ERA was a result of these struggles, with 51 walks and 131 punch-outs. He should have a better time next season with some understanding of how he would need to pitch without his 99 mph fastball.
Waldrep surprised everyone last year. He was during his MLB debut in 2024. However, in an emergency spot start situation at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2025, Waldrep showed everyone he was ready for the big leagues. His splitter is one of the most filthy pitches you'll ever see, and it helped him achieve a 2.88 ERA over 56 innings. The only thing Waldrep needs to improve is his walk rate, and he will be unstoppable.
This leaves us with two spots to cover next season. Reynaldo Lopez is expected to return, and there are no plans to move him from the rotation. However, the Braves should consider moving him to the bullpen in a long relief role even if they aren't going to talk about it publicly yet.
This could open the door for a free agent signing like Ranger Suarez. Suarez would give the Braves another filthy left-hander in the rotation. According to Fangraphs, he is projected to earn a five-year, $125 million contract. That's a pretty penny, but it's to be expected after back-to-back All-Star seasons. If Atlanta signed him, they'd have a rotation featuring two of the best sliders in baseball.
The final slot in the rotation should feature Braves prospect JR Ritchie. He is Atlanta's number two prospect, and he really emerged in 2025. His velocity and effectiveness returned during his first full season since Tommy John in May 2023. Ritchie's fastball topped out at 97 mph, and he paired this with an extremely effective slider.
So, our final product would look something like this:
Chris Sale
Spencer Strider
Ranger Suarez
Hurston Waldrep
JR Ritchie
This feels like an extremely effective and talented rotation for the Braves. There's a lot of talent and strikeout potential among this entire group. However, it will be interesting to see what Atlanta decides to do for their rotation this offseason.