The Braves enter Sunday afternoon in danger of dropping three out of four to the Washington Nationals for the second time in two weeks. To avoid such embarrassment they will turn to a guy who was pitching in the College World Series less than a calendar year ago.
The Braves number two prospect (72nd overall according to MLB Pipeline) Hurston Waldrep is set to make his Major League debut in a dire time for the Braves. Waldrep has all the tools to be successful at in the bigs, but with the quick ascension of the RHP should we be worried the 22 year-old isn't ready for the moment?
"Just being able to put this uniform on, it'll mean a lot."@Braves top prospect @HurstonWaldrep makes his major-league debut tomorrow.
— Bally Sports: Braves (@BravesOnBally) June 8, 2024
He's ready for the moment. pic.twitter.com/6eHfVl3eWF
Are the Braves rushing Waldrep in an unnecessary time?
We know the Braves are aggressive with their promotions in the Anthopoulos era, and have seen evidence of how it can pay off. However, the Braves have had their fair share of backfires with quick promotions as well.
It's no knock on Waldrep's talent, but given the Braves other problematic areas in 2024 it really just begs the question as to why? Waldrep just completed his first career Triple-A start that went longer than five innings.
There's no doubt a combination of Waldrep and Schwellenbach can provide more stability to the fifth spot in the rotation. I'm not going to argue against the upside each young right-hander has to offer. However, as evidenced by Chris Sale's start on Friday, pitching has not been the problem for Atlanta.
Here are the teams with offenses worse than the Braves since April 29:
— Scott Coleman (@scottcoleman55) June 8, 2024
Nationals (28-35)
White Sox (16-48)
Rockies (22-41)
And that’s it
The Braves have been failing to win games directly because of the offense, and bringing Waldrep up obviously can't fix that. Should he go out and dominate the big leagues (which is very possible) then sure great move by the front office. However, should Waldrep go out and struggle with command, or get knocked around (again very possible) then all you have done is hurt your latest first round pick's confidence and fail to solve the more pressing issue.
I'm not saying this is an error in judgement by the front office, all I'm saying is we've seen how quickly guys can see their confidence falter once they start getting yo-yo'd between the majors and minors. Just see one Kyle Wright for example.
With all that said, all of us should have the upmost faith in the baseball decisions Alex Anthopoulos and his staff make. They have proven to be right more often than not. So, here's to hoping Waldrep will prove them right once again, and the Braves can start looking like the Braves once more.