The Atlanta Braves have certainly been impressed with their 2023 first-round draft pick, Hurston Waldrep. After all, in less than a year, the righty went from pitching in college games to starting in the bigs.
While his 2024 results in Atlanta were far from impressive, the Braves still clearly value the 22-year-old. In Mark Bowman's most recent newsletter for MLB.com, the Braves' beat writer notes that Waldrep has received trade interest, but Atlanta isn't interested in moving him.
However, if the Braves want to make a splash without breaking the bank, it might be wise to hold off giving this prospect the untouchable tag.
FIRST major league strikeout for Hurston Waldrep!#BravesCountry pic.twitter.com/xfa4c86WMF
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 9, 2024
The Atlanta Braves should consider moving Hurston Waldrep
It's understandable why the Braves seem less motivated to move Waldrep. Even in his short stint with the big league club, where he got hammered to the tune of a 16.71 ERA and 11.74 FIP in seven innings, the righty had above-average velocity and limited hard hit balls (even though he allowed three bombs).
In the minors, things were much more successful, finishing the year with a 3.47 ERA in 93.1 innings across four levels, predominantly pitching in AA and AAA. At the time of his debut, MLB.com noted that his splitter might be one of the best pitches to come out of the 2023 draft.
However, Waldrep's raw potential shouldn't elevate him to the level of an elite prospect. The righty sits outside MLB Pipeline's top 100 prospects. While Waldrep saw some improvements in the minors, he still had serious command issues that doomed his 2024 season in the bigs.
After returning from injury, Waldrep was 6.75 batters per nine from August 3 until mid-September.
As we've seen from flashy prospects in the past, like Touki Toussaint, command issues are hard to fix. The young prospect did cut free pass rate slightly in 2024, but he was still walking 4.3 batters per nine, while only striking out 9.4 batters per nine. Very few pitchers can survive with high walk rates coupled with non-elite strikeout numbers.
One former Braves prospect, Kyle Muller, had similar minor league numbers to Waldrep prior to being shipped off to Oakland. His command problems plagued his first season with the Athletics, and in his second season, he appeared exclusively out of the bullpen. While he was somewhat able to harness his walk-rate, his strikeouts came plumenting down and he still only managed a 4.01 ERA and a 3.96 FIP in 49.1 innings.
Waldrep's potential is nothing to scoff at, and while the Braves shouldn't send him off for a middle reliever with one year remaining, a
If the right player comes along, the Braves should not hesitate to send Waldrep in a package for a game-changing presence.