Braves Predicted to Pair Chris Sale With Viral No-Hitter Pitcher

The trade that ended Sale's career with Boston could only be described as disrespectful, and Sale responded by winning his first career Cy Young in 2024, and has built off of that with a start to 2025 that if continued would place him in the heart of the Cy Young conversation at the end of this year.

While Sale has been great, the Braves have struggled to find continuity in their rotation, with Spencer Strider, Bryce Elder, Spencer Schwellenbach and Grant Holmes serving as good, but not great rotation pieces as Atlanta serves to compete with the Mets and Phillies in a loaded division.

The Braves have two options to improve their rotation: via their farm system, or via the MLB Draft.

The Braves have done the former, calling up No. 10 prospect Didier Fuentes, who turned 20 on Tuesday, for his first big league start tonight against the Marlins. Fuentes will become the youngest player to start a game for the Braves since Mike McQueen in 1970.

With the MLB Draft less than a month away, Arkansas starting pitcher Gage Wood has been skyrocketing up draft boards. On the day that Fuentes turned 20, Wood threw a no-hitter that included nineteen strikeouts to eliminate unranked Murray State in the College World Series.

In a recent draft prediction, MLB's Jim Callis predicted the Braves would select Wood with the 22nd overall pick in the draft, with the idea that he may one day pitch alongside icons of the game like Sale and Strider. 

If not, the Braves would surely get a live arm who has already established himself on the big stage. Braves fans should be excited about this latest projection.