The Atlanta Braves have been leaving no stone unturned when it comes to trying to piece together the best roster on the field humanly possible. While they don't have a ton of internal options that could be considered upgrades for their offense, they do have several options when it comes to address their pitching staff down in the minor leagues.
One such recent example here is when the Braves called up Spencer Schwellenbach to make his major league debut. While his second start did not go well, it does feel like Atlanta has been impressed with how Schwellenbach has carried himself and he does have the stuff to be a big league starter assuming he continues to make adjustments.
However, very few people thought that the Braves would make the move that they are about to make as Hurston Waldrep is expected to make his major league debut on Sunday.
Hurston Waldrep will start tomorrow against the Nats. Fried is pushed back to Tuesday
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) June 8, 2024
Braves News: Hurston Waldrep to be promoted to make big league debut on Sunday
To say that this is an aggressive move by the Braves is an understatement. Atlanta only just selected Waldrep in the first round of last year's draft and while they allowed him to move through the system quickly in his pro debut, the general sentiment was that the team was going to give Waldrep some time to rein in his command a bit in 2024 before considering him for the big league roster.
However, with Schwellenbach's most recent struggles and the fifth spot in the rotation being a bit of a revolving door at the moment, Atlanta clearly wants to see what Waldrep has to offer in the majors while also giving some of their starters an extra day of rest. After posting a 2.92 ERA in nine starts down at Double-A, the Braves recently pushed Waldrep to Triple-A where he struck out 11 batters in six innings in his first and only start at Gwinnett.
This move continues a pattern of the Braves being VERY aggressive with their pitching prospects with Schwellenbach, Spencer Strider, and AJ Smith-Shawver being some of the more recent examples. Waldrep's stuff certainly looks like it should play especially his splitter which might be one of the best pitches in the entire Braves' organization, but we'll see if Atlanta rushed him to the majors too soon.