Hurston Waldrep caps off phenomenal rookie campaign

As Bradford Doolittle of ESPN pointed out last week, the most positive aspect of the Braves’ 2025 campaign might be the emergence of Hurston Waldrep.

The 2023 first-round pick toed the rubber for the final time of the season last night, flashing all of the improvements that have the Braves rightfully excited for his future. His movement away from his four-seam fastball to a cutter/sinker combination has allowed him to confidently get ahead of batters early, which makes his split-finger offering — one of the nastiest secondary pitches in all of baseball — that much more deadly.

Waldrep would finish the evening allowing just one earned run on five hits and four walks over six innings. It was enough to earn him his sixth win of the season compared to just one loss, as the Braves won their tenth game in a row behind a couple of home runs from Michael Harris.

The leap Hurston Waldrep has taken in one season is nothing short of remarkable. There were high hopes for him coming into 2025, but throughout the first few months, he showed no signs of a pitcher that was capable of making an impact in the majors. Prospect outlets began to cool on his potential, and many wondered if he needed to start thinking about a move to the bullpen.

Fast forward to today, and Waldrep has put his stamp on an Opening Day roster spot in the Braves rotation. He’s been the team’s best starting pitcher since they called him up in August, and his emergence has eased at least some of the concerns surrounding the Braves’ starting pitching going into the offseason.

“I think I’m exactly where I need to be, no more, no less,” Waldrep said, via David O’Brien of The Athletic. “I won’t really be able to reflect on everything until I get home and kind of sit in the woods for a little while or go sit on a tractor for a couple hours and really decompress.”