Atlanta Braves Young Pitcher Gets Hefty Praise From ESPN Heading into Year 2

Despite injuries to Ronald Acuna Jr., Spencer Strider and Ozzie Albies last season, the Atlanta Braves still made the playoffs, finishing second in the National League East.

Though they were beaten by the San Diego Padres in the wild card round, the Braves enter the 2025 season with big expectations once again. Strider and Acuna will be back form injury in the first half of the season, and the Braves went out and brought in All-Star Jurickson Profar to help lengthen the lineup even further.

And there's also the development of young pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach, which is exciting people all across baseball this spring, according to a recent article from ESPN.com:

With a six-pitch mix -- four- and two-seam fastballs, slider, cutter, curveball, splitter -- the 24-year-old Schwellenbach keeps hitters off-balance and commands the ball with the presence of someone beyond his age. As good as last year was, there's more in the tank -- and in a loaded top of the NL East, Atlanta will need it.