There's a place for him on this Braves staff Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images

How Joey Wentz Fits into Atlanta Braves Equation

Originally posted on Atlanta Braves on SI
By Harrison Smajovits | Last updated Mar 3, 2026 8:14 AM ET

Joey Wentz provided a nice follow to Bryce Elder on Monday, en route to an Atlanta Braves 5-2 win over the Detroit Tigers in Lakeland. Both arms made their case for being the next two in line to get a spot in the starting rotation when one opens up.

So far, Wentz has delivered five scoreless innings with a 1.00 WHIP in two appearances. Both were out of the bullpen.

Since Elder is the likely option to take the open fifth spot, that leaves Wentz the odd man out in the game of pitching musical chairs. As with Elder, Wentz is out of options. If he's off the active roster, then he would be off the 40-man roster.

Simply putting him in Triple-A until they need him isn't on the table, it would be wise for the Braves to give him a role in the bullpen early to ensure he's availble when they need a starting pitcher.

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While the default choice would be to use him as a regular arm in the bullpen, as in he comes in for one or two innings, that would be a waste of what he offers. He can give the team innings. That should be used to their advantage on some type of schedule.

The best way Wentz fits into the Braves' equation is to be a bona fide long reliever. He can give the bullpen the night off, or he can jump in if a starting pitcher struggles early. After innings were hard to come by last year, this could be another method to squeeze them in.

Let's provide a couple of examples for how this could work.

Reynlado López has the hypothetical start. He goes just five innings in an effort to keep his shoulder healthy. Wentz comes in after as part of the plan and pitches three or four innings. Once through the rotation, he helped ensure the Braves only needed two or three arms to get through the game.

In another situation, we'll use López again. He only makes it two innings. He struggles early, and his day is done. Wentz comes in and goes four or five innings, so the Braves got a starter's workload from somebody. That helps get the team to the backend of the bullpen to finish things off.

In this situation, let's say he comes out strictly once through the rotation so he can also stay rested. That's about 33 appearances going between three and five innings. Assuming it's closer to three innings on average, that's still about 100 innings pitched if he were to be in this role for an entire season.

The reality is that he would likely have to be used as an actual starter at some point this season. A team never needs just five starters. The perk of this strategy would be that he's already built up to going a certain number of innings per appearance. He would be ready go a couple of times through the order as a starter because he had already been doing that out of the bullpen.

This is basically suggesting that Wentz be used as an old-fashioned long reliever and a spot starter. If you clocked that while reading this, you caught me red-handed. Sometimes, an old idea can still work. That extra option for innings at all times would be a nice boost for the Braves and could be key to greater success this upcoming season.