A.J. Minter | Braves debut: August 23, 2018
Do you remember beardless Minter? In 2017, A.J. Minter rocketed his way through the minors. He started with the High-A Florida Fire Frogs and had stints in Rome (due to rehabing a minor injury), Mississippi, and Gwinnett before making it to the majors in August.
Although he's had some rocky seasons (see his 2019), he has been one of the team's best relievers. He's been worth 7.1 fWAR since his debut, and has been among the Braves high leverage relief corps every playoff series since 2020.
His most impressive moment, however, came as a starter. With a short rotation, Brian Snitker turned to the lefty in Game 5 of the 2020 NLCS.
In his only start to date, Minter went three innings and struck out seven of the 10 batters he faced. I wish his electric start had a better outcome.
2. Max Fried | Braves debut: August 8, 2017
A few weeks before A.J. Minter made his Braves debut, and just a week after the longest-tenured current Brave made his debut, Max Fried took the mound for Atlanta. He would enter in relief of Luke Jackson and pitch two scoreless innings.
The Braves would use Fried as a swingman over the next two seasons before fully entrusting him in starting rotation in 2019. After a Michael Soroka injury in 2020, Fried fully took the reigns as the de facto ace and hasn't let go of them, albeit in the 2023 season when he dealt with injury.
In his seven seasons with the club, Fried has been worth 15.7 fWAR and has a 3.03 career ERA. He's also the final pitcher to win a Silver Slugger, which he took home in 2021.