The Braves selected Spencer Schwellenbach in the second round of the 2021 draft knowing he wouldn’t pitch until 2023. In July 2023, a shoulder injury cost him another six weeks on the shelf. He ended the year with 65 IP, and only 12 of those innings in High-A.
He threw 32 innings in High-A to start 2024 before he jumped to Double-A on May 15. Two weeks later, he was on the bump in Atlanta to make his first Major League start. It wasn’t great, but he threw strikes, and the day wasn’t too big for him. As the season went on, we learned no day is too big for him.
Most stories I’ve read say Schwellenbach had a rough start but improved when the calendar slipped to July. I don’t see it that way. The numbers say he had one bad start, allowing six runs to the Red Sox in his second start on June 2, but that’s the end of his rough outings. In his next 19 starts, Schwellenbach pitched to a 2.92 ERA, 0.912 WHIP, in 114 innings, striking out 118 and walking 20.
Why Schwellenbach has a ton of similarities to Braves legend Tom Glavine
When I told my editor that Schwellenbach reminded me of Tom Glavine, he said Glavine wished he could through a consistent 96mph fastball. That of course is true. However, that wasn’t where I saw the resemblance.
On the bump, Glavine and Schwellenbach share an important characteristic: a slow heartbeat. The game never gets too fast for them; it’s impossible to tell whether they have the game in their pocket or it’s a fight to make their pitches work. Neither pitcher let their body language betray them.
Glavine threw his 88-90 mph fastball 48% of the time, but his weapons were a 77-80 mph change he threw 45% and a low 80s slider. Batters beat those pitches into the ground or hit lazy fly balls to Andruw Jones.
Schwellenbach can throw his 96 mph four-seamer 29% of the time and batters WHIFF on it 20.5% of the time, so it is a weapon. He mixes three offspeed pitches - an 87 mph slider with a 27.9% WHIFF%, an 80 mph curve with a 40% WHIFF%, and an 85 mph splitter batters’ wave to as it goes by 46% of the time – to generate a 34.2% chase rate, 46% GB%, and a 4.6% barrel% that was the fourth lowest in the league.
Don't tell anyone, but I think #Braves righty Spencer Schwellenbach is pretty good pic.twitter.com/uJ5ZBdnsX7
— Chief_Fred (@FredEOwens) October 23, 2024
As a Brave from 1991 through 2002, Glavine allowed batters a .249/.312/.357 line with a .281 BABIP. In 2024, batters posted a .226/.271/.391 slash line with a .280 BABIP against Schwellenbach.