By now, the Atlanta Braves' rotation can really only go one of two ways. Either they stick with what they have internally, or they will sign one of Chris Bassitt or Lucas Giolito. Yes, there are other possible fringe outcomes via trades or signings, but those two paths are the prohibitive favorites. Unfortunately, both paths are apparently causing some problems, to varying degrees, when it comes to Hurston Waldrep's spot in the rotation.
One would think that Waldrep did enough in 2025 to be relatively safe when it comes to the rotation. After being pressed into service, Waldrep came out and shoved to the tune of a 2.88 ERA across 56.1 innings of work to close out the season. If Atlanta is serious about contending in 2026, Waldrep feels like an arm you want throwing every fifth game.
However, the trick that the Braves have to pull off is to have the best complete roster overall by the end of camp and that could leave Waldrep on the outside looking in especially if the Braves sign another rotation arm.
Hurston Waldrep may not start 2026 off in the Braves' rotation after all
Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, and Spencer Schwellenbach are mortal locks to make the rotation out of camp. Full stop, not up for negotiation unless they get hurt. That presumably leaves two possible spots for Waldrep to occupy and on skill and production, he would probably be worthy of such a spot. The picture gets a hazier if the Braves do sign a starter, but fans may not understand to what degree.
According to reporting from Mark Bowman, the fact that Waldrep has minor league options left could doom his rotation spot, at least at the start of the season, regardless of what Atlanta does in free agency the rest of the way. The Braves have the recently signed Martin Perez along with Bryce Elder, Grant Holmes, and Joey Wentz who all do not have minor league options available. You can trim a name here and put another name in the bullpen, but that still leaves scant room for Waldrep whereas starting him off in the minors would allow the Braves to keep more arms around.
Unfortunately, that is the way this could be trending. One can understand the skepticism in Perez at this stage of his career and Waldrep is strictly better than Elder right now, but the Braves did keep these guys (or add them) to provide rotation depth. To preserve all of that depth, Waldrep may not have a place in the rotation even if it makes Atlanta a worse team in the short-term. Not signing a starter would perhaps give him some wiggle room to get in, but adding another rotation arm would make things basically impossible.