Atlanta Braves right-hander Hurston Waldrep will make his big-league debut on Sunday against the Washington Nationals, according to MLB.com's Mark Bowman. Max Fried, originally scheduled to start that contest, will have his outing pushed back to Tuesday as a means of giving him some additional rest.
Waldrep, 22, was the No. 24 pick in last summer's draft by way of the University of Florida. In 10 minor-league starts this season, he posted a 3.09 ERA and a 3.28 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Waldrep recently made his first Triple-A start this year, striking out 11 batters and issuing one walk across six innings.
We here at CBS Sports named Waldrep as one of the better pitching prospects in the minors in May:
Waldrep was one of our favorite pitchers in last summer's draft thanks to a quality fastball-splitter combination. The knock on him was his command. Let's put it this way: he's sporting a 10.2% walk rate this season and that represents a big step forward. The Braves are an underrated good team at pitching development, so we'll see if they can continue to help him maximize his talent. If so, he could be one of the steals of last year's class.
Waldrep, as part of that aforementioned Triple-A start, leaned heavily on his trapdoor splitter -- his top pitch, but an offering that he hadn't deployed as often as a means of prioritizing the improvement of the rest of his arsenal. He also throws a low-to-mid-90s fastball and a slider.
Waldrep will notably be the second recent high draft pick to debut for the Braves. Fellow right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach, a second-round selection in 2021, has made two starts since reaching the majors in late May.
