Report: Braves to Call Up No. 4 Prospect to Bolster Rotation

The Atlanta Braves will pull from their prospect pool to get another starter in the rotation. They’re expected to call up No. 4 prospect Hurston Waldrep from Triple-A, per sources. He will reportedly take the ball to start the series opener against the Kansas City Royals on Monday. 

The word that Waldrep is heading to The Show comes as Grant Holmes officially goes on the injured list with right elbow inflammation. In the official corresponding move, they recalled reliever Daysbel Hernández. 

However, the Braves need starting pitching options. All five members of the Opening Day rotation are officially on the injured list. Spencer Strider and Grant Holmes are the only two healthy starters, with Joey Wentz also filling in a couple of times. We can presume he will start another game, but he’s not officially in the rotation. 

Waldrep has been a question mark for most of the season about whether he could eventually get a spot in Atlanta. A recent turnaround has earned him a chance to see if he can do better than his first stint in the Majors. 

In his last six starts, he's had a 2.43 ERA in 33 1/3 innings pitched. He's allowed two runs or fewer in five of them and has given the Stripers at least five innings each time.  

Waldrep would be getting his second Major League stint. He made two starts last season, allowing 13 earned runs across seven combined innings pitched. He then went on the injured list before he could be sent back down to the minor leagues. He finally gets to show that things can be different for him. 

He was the Braves' first-round pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, being drafted out of the University of Florida 24th overall.

The experiment to see which pitcher from the minors this season works. Didier Fuentes and Davis Daniel were both given shots and both found themselves on the shuttle back to Gwinnett. Perhaps this time is the charm.

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