This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman’s Braves Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
ATLANTA — Hurston Waldrep was preparing to help the University of Florida reach the College World Series around this time last year. Now, folks are wondering if he could spend some of this season pitching at the big league level.
Waldrep (Braves No. 2 and No. 73 overall per MLB Pipeline) has logged 78 2/3 innings over the 17 starts he has made since the Braves took him with the 24th overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft. It might feel like it’s a little too early to bring him to the Majors. But he’s in an organization that over the past calendar year has given big league starts to fellow top prospects AJ Smith-Shawver (No. 1) and Spencer Schwellenbach (No. 3).
Smith-Shawver was 20 years old and just two years removed from high school when he made his first start for Atlanta last year. Schwellenbach had made just two starts above the High-A level before he started against the Nationals on Wednesday night.
It takes time to gain a respectable ERA after allowing seven earned runs and 11 hits over just 2 2/3 innings in your season debut. But Waldrep endured that rough opener for Double-A Mississippi and still has a 2.92 ERA through his first nine starts.
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