Braves embarrassed themselves with the handling of Didier Fuentes

Tuesday night was just the latest episode in what’s been a season full of embarrassments for the Braves.

20-year-old Didier Fuentes toed the rubber in the first of a three-game set with the Athletics in an attempt to stop the bleeding following a 2-7 home stand, one that saw the Braves fall 9.5 games back in the NL wild card race. Unfortunately, the kid never stood a chance, even against a less than impressive Oakland lineup, a trend that’s defined all four of his major-league starts.

The Athletics racked up five runs in the first inning off three home runs. They then tallied four more in the second after Didier Fuentes loaded the bases with nobody out, giving way to Jesse Chavez, who conveniently surrendered a long grand slam over the right-center field fence.

For those on the East Coast who thought it was a good idea to drink a cup of coffee to stay up and watch the game, hopefully, they didn’t miss out on too much sleep. This one was effectively over before it began — the second Fuentes was announced as the starter.

That’s no slight at the rookie. Fuentes earned top prospect status with some marvelous performances on the mound. But the writing was on the wall from his debut: his arsenal isn’t yet major-league ready, and the Braves knew it. He came into the season without having made a single start above Low-A Augusta and only made one start in AAA before the Braves decided to bring him up following the injury to Chris Sale.

It was a desperate attempt to find some sort of spark to save the season, an understandable Hail Mary in the moment. But the fact that it has lasted this long is one of the more embarrassing moments of 2025, and that’s saying something considering just how abysmal this summer has played out.

Falling short of expectations is one thing. It happens — even to great organizations. But willingly throwing one of your most promising young pitchers to the wolves with no experience in a lost season? That’s not just poor judgment. That’s negligence.

At one point, this front office — led by Alex Anthopoulos — was the envy of the league. They were praised for team-friendly extensions and a forward-thinking approach. Somewhere along the line, though, they lost the plot. Teams don’t go from perennial World Series contenders to one of the worst teams in baseball overnight. It takes years’ worth of bad decisions to experience this type of drop-off, and their recent handling of Didier Fuentes shouldn’t inspire any confidence that this front office is capable of turning this ship around in the future.