The Braves sustained yet another injury within their starting staff, as young right-hander Hurston Waldrep has been placed on the 15-day injured list due to elbow inflammation, per a team announcement. Righty Daysbel Hernandez is up from Triple-A Gwinnett in his place. Atlanta has also optioned outfielder J.P. Martinez to Gwinnett and recalled fellow outfielder Forrest Wall in his place.
Manager Brian Snitker indicated last night that Waldrep would be optioned to Gwinnnett. However, Mark Bowman of MLB.com tweets that the 22-year-old Waldrep subsequently informed the team’s training staff that his elbow was more sore than usual following his recent start. He’ll now join Spencer Strider, AJ Smith-Shawver and Huascar Ynoa on the injured list.
Waldrep, the team’s first-round pick just last year, made his MLB debut earlier this month. He’s taken the mound twice since being promoted to the big leagues but been hit quite hard, yielding 13 runs on nine hits and eight walks with only three strikeouts through seven innings. The former Florida Gator standout hasn’t completed four innings in either of his two starts and issued four free passes in each.
Tough as his debut has been, Waldrep excelled in the upper minors prior to his promotion. Through 49 1/3 Double-A frames, he pitched to an excellent 2.92 ERA with a 22.4% strikeout rate and 7.9% walk rate. The Braves promoted him to Triple-A after that start, where he pitched six innings and allowed three runs — but only on five hits and one walk with a terrific 11 strikeouts.
Since he was set to be optioned anyhow, Waldrep’s injury won’t necessarily subtract from the immediate MLB rotation. Atlanta will still lean on Reynaldo Lopez, Chris Sale, Max Fried, Charlie Morton and rookie Spencer Schwellenbach for the time being, and there are still quality options in Gwinnett — Bryce Elder most notably. But any elbow issue for a promising young arm is troubling, and Waldrep’s injury does further deplete the team’s depth for the time being.
As for the outfield shuffle, Martinez will head down to Gwinnett after going hitless in 10 plate appearances with the big league squad. Wall will get a look after batting .287/.393/.415 with four homers and 11 steals for the Stripers. He’ll replace Martinez as a left-handed bat in the outfield mix, giving Snitker some additional speed off the bench. Given Adam Duvall’s woeful .084/.126/.108 slash against fellow righties — he’s hitting .275/.393/.565 against southpaws — Wall could see some action against right-handed pitching as well.
2 starts and toasted. Shades of Max Meyer.
Is it just a coincidence that the teams who are best at developing pitching (CLE, MIA, ATL) also have the most arm injuries?
Nope
tigers – Big omission there, please add Tampa to the list.
I forgot Tampa as well
I’d replace MIA and ATL with MIL (inc. RPs), TB and even PHI (interested to see how Abel/Painter turn out). Can’t deny seeing in-house guys: Nola, Suarez, Sanchez.
DET gets credit for Tarik, and Olson looks good, but Mize still has a lot of question marks with the dreaded 1-1 label. We haven’t seen anything from Jobe, but it means something he’s one of, if not the, top MiLB arm now.
Run – But do the Brewers and Phillies produce so many injuries?
Tampa never cares about longterm pitcher health because they always trade their pitchers or let them walk after a few years.
Injuries are inevitable, it’s the amount your guys are getting them and how much production you’re getting from them. Phillies have 2 of the most durable TOR SP in MLB, which is why ATL wanted to vulture Nola away from them. That’s not even including Suarez who has hit another level this year. Sanchez quietly looks like one of the better 4-SPs in MLB. And as a Braves fan, I’m punching a pillow typing this.
Devin Williams, Josh Hader, Corbin Burnes, not including Peralta turning into a stud. Will be interesting if they can round out Abner Uribe and some of the other live arms in their ‘pen. They got a lot from Woodruff, though he’s on the mend.
I don’t agree with Philly replacing ATL or MIA here
Atlanta just drafts a ton of pitchers. So yes, they seem to produce a little more than other teams, but not really by percentage. Same can be said of the injuries, Atlanta just seems to have more because they have a constant stream of young arms being thrust into the spotlight.
I do think that the fact there is a ton of competition in the Braves system that maybe some of these guys overthrow a bit and possibly could be leading to more injuries, but the reality is that it’s happening everywhere in baseball.
I feel like the Rays just acquire guys with long injury histories on the cheap and get what they can out of them. McClanahan was an exception as he was always used as a starter and developed by the team.
Maybe coincidence since the Rockies have also had a bunch of arm injuries the past couple of years.
The Mariners pitching is still intact. (knock on wood)
Hursten, meet Tommy John
Any stats to back up that CLE, MIA and ATL are the best at developing pitching?
@Yoshis Javelin,
Great question, but I doubt you’ll get any takers. Anecdotal evidence seems to be the fun (and lazy) way to go these days.
It’s even lazier to not back your point up with facts.
But it’s actually laziest to accuse the lazier. Let’s see where we can go with this!
If you’re concerned over what teams are factually the best at developing pitching instead of the injuries that happen to their pitchers, you’re missing the point. If you were to ask anybody who knows baseball, these are among the teams that will be mentioned every time. I’m not sure why this has to be a controversy
Nor am I.
I would put the Mariners in that category. Their starting pitchers #2 thru #5 are all homegrown and doing very well.
Martinez was 2-10
Next, you’ll be telling me his wife, Lovey Wentworth is feeling poorly.
The next great SP the Braves will talk up…then trade him for a spare part in 3 yrs
The Braves “talk up” starters? Ok
Soooo …. am I the only one thinking Waldrep spoke up about soreness just to accrue more service time? Timing certainly seems questionable.
Yes
Definitely. And without evidence.
Service time & the paycheck are much better on the Braves active roster.
I’d definitely speak up if I had anything that felt wrong.
Spencer Turnbull type move.
Feel bad for the kid (if it turns out like it looks) but it should be remembered that the whole reason he lasted until 24 where the Braves took him is a LOT of scouts thought his delivery was a ticking time bomb. The extreme high effort motion and the heavy use of a very high velocity splitter, are all red flags. Braves are smart generally. They knew they were taking a risk on a local kid. How it goes.
If I recall people seemed to think the command was an issue potentially. Idk if that’s true for sure but people said it I’m pretty sure.
Braves. On May 1 they were 20-9. Since then 18-22 .450 ball. Keep the since May 1st pace up and they finish 80-82.
Imagine a world in which the Braves don’t make the playoffs….
They were/are overrated in many ways. Especially Strider
Idiotic post of the day! Congrats! You’ve won a set of MLB Trade Rumors branded steak knives and a 50% off coupon for Dairy Queen.
If you think the Braves, and especially Strider, were overrated, there is no use bothering to talk to you. You’re clearly beyond help.
On May 14th, they were 26-13. Since then, they’re 12-18, which is a 65 win pace. I’m sure they’ll turn it around once the offense comes around, and they’ve gone on long tears before. But they’ve been one of the worst teams in baseball over the last 30 games.
One thing in their favor is that the NL is a dumpster fire this year. Nine teams and only two games separate the second wild card (Cardinals at .500) and the third worst team in the NL (Mets).
Projecting that a team that was 20-9 and won 100 games the year before will continue to play the rest of the season like they played during their worst stretch where almost everyone in a lineup that set records last season was hitting horribly, is so unlikely that its hardly worth mentioning. And overrated? Do you realize they have a deadly lineup on paper at almost every position, a great bullpen, (even without Strider) they have 3 pitchers pitching like aces-Fried is an ace to begin with and Sale obviously was for years. I mean how is a team like that overrated. They still have a nice record without Strider and getting near nothing from Riley, Olson, Acuna, Harris (offensively), etc. what other team could do that? And it’s hardly a sign of what’s to come as Riley and Olson are both streaky to begin with and both are starting to hit.
Chop this.
If he goes on the IL for a long time while being a big leaguer that really hurts Atlanta. Crochet did that and that’s why he’s only under control through 2026.
Moving guys along a little faster than years past is probably a good thing. But they still need development in the minors. Unless your name is Paul Skenes this typically doesn’t work out.
Break up the Mets! Most underrated team?
IL? Bruised ego and bloated ERA?
Gotta get that service time and Big League minimum
Braves are up against a Wall.
Where are the geniuses who said it was the right move to promote waldrep so soon? He’s a kid. Barely spent half a season in the minors. He was not even close to ready for the bigs. Where are the lunatics who said “if he can pitch lets see it”??? Where are you now?? Waldrep, schwellenbach, thorpe all got absolutely annihilated. Tms just dont know when to keep youngsters in minors & keep developing. Braves may have ruined a great young arm. Unf’inbelievable!!
I fully agree. The Braves have screwed up AJ Smith-Shawver and now Hurston Waldrep, next is Swellenbach. The future of Braves pitching is getting dimmer with every moronic move of promoting young pitchers too fast. The fifth starter position should be filled with one of the older pitchers at AAA not by a kid with no experience above AA.
*Paul Skenes has entered the chat.
A guy can’t have a sore elbow without everyone saying TJ. Maybe it will happen but these people overlook how frequently pitchers get sore elbows. It’s certainly not good but settle down guys. Let’s wait and see.
I will get ahead of the curve and say right now that apple tv soicks