Atlanta Braves prospect Spencer Schwellenbach named to the Futures Game

The Atlanta Braves representative for the Futures game was named and Spencer Schwellenbach will represent the Braves!

A great honor for Schwellenbach. The second-round pick of the Braves back in the 2021 draft, missed the first year and a half of his professional career due to injury. He finally debuted down in Low-A Augusta and has been pitching well.

The Braves' sixth-ranked prospect according to MLB pipeline has started 12 games in Augusta. Across his 45.2 innings of work, Schwellenbach has a 2.76 ERA, 3.98 FIP, & 4.04 xFIP. He adds in a 19.9% strikeout rate and a 7.5% walk rate. Solid numbers for Schwellenbach.

He is a bit old for the level at twenty-three, however, the Braves are probably being patient with him due to the injury concerns. He was also primarily a reliever in college at Nebraska so there is also the need to get him worked into longer outings.

Schwellenbach throws a fastball, slider, and changeup. The fastball can touch 99 but normally sits in the mid-90s. The slider sits in the low 80s but has the potential to be a plus pitch that will miss plenty of bats. Finally, the changeup sits in the mid-80s with plenty of downward movement that works well off the heater. The hope is all three pitches can be plus to plus-plus pitches as he develops.

He has started to work longer into games, throwing 6 innings in three of his last four outings. It probably makes sense to send him to Rome at some point this year due to his advanced age.

Right now, Spencer can focus on the Futures Game coming up in a few weeks. A tremendous honor for any prospect. Hopefully Schwellenbach does Braves country proud.

Maybe he is the next prospect we talk about rising rapidly through the ranks in the Braves system.