After a lot of uncertainty following significant turnover at the end of the 2025 season, the Atlanta Braves' bullpen looks to be in good shape right now. Bringing back Raisel Iglesias stabilized the Braves' relief corps and after signing Robert Suarez, the backend of the bullpen looks like a true roster strength instead of a worry. With this bullpen overhaul, the onus is on a lot of fringe arms to prove they belong and that includes top pitching prospect Jhancarlos Lara.
As much as the Braves have tried to help him find success as a starter, Lara seems to be pretty clearly headed for a relief role. He only pitched more than four innings once last season in Triple-A and the bulk of his outings were just an inning or two. With the upside that his fastball-slider combo has in shorter stints, the bullpen feels like an inevitability.
However, actually firming up a spot on the big league roster as a reliever is anything but a certainty. While Lara's arm talent is undeniable, his issues with walks have gotten bad enough that even a future as a MLB bullpen arm is questionable.
Jhancarlos Lara's issues with walks threaten to torpedo his chances with the Braves in 2026
More often than not, pitchers get moved to the bullpen because of injury concerns and/or the inability to maintain and command their stuff more than an inning at a time. As a result, relievers typically have less than command than starters do as relievers are throwing max effort and are only focused on getting three outs per outing. A walk here or there doesn't really matter that much, but a similar rate would add up in a hurry for a starting pitcher and make them unplayable.
However, even before Lara finally got called up briefly in September, he has pushed his own viability because of extreme problems with walks. In 2024, Lara struck out 94 batters across 82 innings, but he also walked 60 batters for a pretty terrible 6.5 walks per nine innings pitched. In 2025, when you would think he would have improved with experience, his walk rate was even worse at a dreadful 8.5 walks per nine. The strikeout rate did go up, but all the extra baserunners proved costly and he had an 8.39 ERA last year to show for it.
If Lara can even get his walk rate to passable (say in the 4-4.5 range), he goes from a project that is stashed in the minor leagues to a potential high leverage option. The slider is a swing and miss pitch and his fastball can live in the upper 90's. If he can just find the strike zone more, Lara could easily find a place in the Braves' bullpen in 2026. If he still has no idea where his pitches are going, Lara could easily find himself out of the organization altogether.