Hurston Waldrep making a case to return to Atlanta

Among prospects in the first half of the season, Braves 2023 first-round pick Hurston Waldrep might take the cake as the most disappointing.

Waldrep’s control issues have not yet subsided. If anything, they’ve gotten worse. After issuing 4.3 walks per nine innings in 2024, that number has ballooned to 5.2 in 2025, contributing to an ERA just under 5.00.

With the Braves rotation ravaged by injuries, this should be the perfect window for an older prospect like Waldrep to earn a shot. Instead, the organization has passed him over in favor of Didier Fuentes and various bullpen arms — none of whom have impressed.

That said, there have been some signs of life from Waldrep in recent weeks. Over his last five starts, he’s gone at least five innings in four of them, allowing two earned runs or fewer in each of those outings. Most recently, he tossed six strong innings on July 10th, surrendering just one run and striking out six.

The Braves are in a pretty miserable position when it comes to their starting staff. With injuries to Chris Sale, Reynaldo Lopez, Spencer Schwellenbach, and AJ Smith-Shawver, they really only have two healthy major-league starters in the entire organization. That means a slew of new faces could receive opportunities over the second half of the season. Ideally, Hurston Waldrep will be one of them, and if he can find any sort of consistency, it would be a massive development for 2026 and beyond.