<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/AU9jOLKXy86qmgV99AAK1mB7Svk=/0x0:4033x2689/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73397444/_7DZRCSl.0.jpeg">
image: Mills Fitzner, Rome Braves
Everything you need to know about Hurston Waldrep before his major league debut The Atlanta Braves continue to surprise us with their aggression, this time pushing up 2023 first round pick Hurston Waldrep to make his major league debut. The ride has been a quick one for Waldrep, who one year ago was making postseason starts for the Florida Gators and now finds himself fighting to earn a major league role.
The Braves weren’t shy in their aggression with Waldrep last season either, giving him eight total starts and pushing him all the way to Triple-A for his final one. Waldrep had massive success in these eight outings, which immediately served to skyrocket the excitement around him and push him into top 100 conversations nationally. Expectations for him were astronomical going into 2024, but there was reason to have some skepticism and patience for Waldrep’s development. While Waldrep had solid results his command was far off from what was expected he would need to be a major league arm, and the Braves made a point to focus on that early in the season. By taking away some of his splitter usage Waldrep was forced to work almost entirely with his fastball and slider, and the results from this had some disappointed with Waldrep’s performances early in the season.
Waldrep’s concerns often center around his violent delivery. While Waldrep has a measure of athleticism and has never been hopelessly wild, his high effort delivery and awkward mechanics lead most to assume that high level command will never be his specialty. Waldrep gets into trouble with the front half of his body, specifically when he dips his lead shoulder and loses his arm slot. This will often cause Waldrep to badly either in the dirt or arm side and up, leading to high walk totals and sliders left over the plate. The Braves haven’t fixed this problem but they’ve helped Waldrep mitigate it, and over the past few starts Waldrep has seen a leap in his strike-throwing though his low walk rates are still a matter of control-over-command. In his five May starts Waldrep gave up a 1.19 ERA and struck out 24.8% of batters, but most impressive was cutting his walk rate down to 5.6%. This earned him a call up to Triple-A, where he was fully unleashed and showed off the type of pitcher he can be.
Many talk about the mentality for Hurston Waldrep as one of his key attributes. Waldrep is a fiery competitor and is described as a perfectionist, and we’ve seen early in the season how this parlays itself into adjustments on the field. Not content with riding out his raw stuff as a means to get outs, Waldrep has put in the work both physically and mentally to be a better pitcher and it has paid quick dividend. Waldrep struck out 11 batters over six innings in his first taste of Triple-A in 2024, an impressive performance only marred by a weak home run in the first inning. Whether Waldrep is developed enough to handle the major leagues is an open question, but there is confidence that Waldrep can handle the mental aspect of the game and is willing to make adjustments where needed to maximize his potential.
Hurston Waldrep's day is complete6IP 5H 3ER 1BB 11KHe was fantastic - generating 22 whiffs to just 3 hard hit balls. pic.twitter.com/ciCxrlhC19— Gaurav (@gvedak) June 2, 2024
Waldrep features a three-pitch mix, and to start with the fastball he certainly has a somewhat unique fastball shape. Waldrep has an extremely over-the-top arm angle, and it creates a fastball with a cut-carry shape in between a typical four seam fastball and cut fastball. While Waldrep’s velocity is solid, he typically averages around 94-95 on the pitch, the shape is less-than-optimal for creating whiffs and he has had some trouble missing bats with the fastball. The inconsistency in his release also creates inconsistency in his fastball shape, which makes it even harder for him to know where the ball is going. The fastball plays down a bit from its raw velocity, but it’s still an average to maybe tick above average fastball.
Much of Waldrep’s ultimate profile will be determined by his slider. The pitch has improved some this year, as he is landing it more consistently and has figured out how to utilize it as a strikeout pitch. Still I don’t see it as a consistently plus pitch, although it has flashes, due to the inconsistencies in shape and movement. Waldrep’s slider can very between sweepy and vertical and all shapes in between, and as such it tends to be the pitch he struggles with most. When landed with some measure of consistency he gets whiffs at an above average rate, but he needs to tighten up the shape of the pitch in order to stick as a starter.
Episode 2 is up on RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Click the first link on our Linktree for help finding the episode https://t.co/dIdBFqTMmx— Peach State Prospects (@PeachStatePros) May 2, 2024
Waldrep’s best pitch, and the thing everyone will be talking about when he debuts, is his split finger fastball. Waldrep is able to kill spin at an elite level, showcasing a devilish splitter that I would put an 80 grade on. While the pitch is so good it doesn’t even need to be consistently commanded to get outs he still commands it better than his fastball and slider, and at the minor league level he has left hitters discouraged and hopeless in their attacks against him. Waldrep can get whiffs from any batter in any count, and will use his splitter more than his other two pitches with a usage rate around 40%. This pitch alone is probably enough to make him a major league reliever right now, and it will immediately give him a go-to weapon that most pitchers lack when getting their first taste of the major leagues.
I have tempered my expectations for Waldrep somewhat going into this start. The Nationals are generally about as good a matchup as he can get — they have the second-lowest run value in baseball against splitters and an above average chase rate as a team — but it’s still a major league lineup and navigating it multiple times will be a challenge. If his slider is working he will be fine, but if he is splitter dependent the Nationals will likely be able to figure out something against him the second time through. Generally I don’t think he is ready for a long-term major league starting role, and that’s fine given where his development is right now. When he was drafted there was no one who truly thought he would be ready in less than a year, and he is at a point right now where he can be at least a decent spot starter for the major league team.
Looking at the rest of the season and into the playoffs I don’t think Waldrep will be a traditional every-fifth-day starter for the Braves. Again, I don’t think he’s ready for that. However, there are ways they can utilize him at the major league level right now that would make him an effective player. One, in a shorter role once or maybe even 12-15 batters through a lineup he is a guy that has the raw stuff to succeed especially against hitters who have never seen his splitter. His pitches have a unique shape so he’s a bit hard to track and that will give him some advantage when facing major league hitters the first time. Waldrep has touched as high as 99 and in shorter stints I believe he could air it out more and sit 96-99, where his fastball and slider will play up even more. Then of course you could deploy Waldrep in a relief role, where his splitter is so good that right now he could pitch in high leverage spots and be successful. The Braves have a good enough bullpen they don’t need him necessarily, but he is already on the 40-man roster and when looking at the active roster he certainly could replace a handful of those relievers in the postseason. Both of those ideas would be looking ahead. For now the Braves will deploy him in a standard starting role, and if they don’t believe he will stick in a rotation right now then they’ll have him start at Triple-A. There is no reason for them to interrupt his development over some regular season games when with expanded playoffs they are all but guaranteed to get into October baseball. October baseball though, that’s when it gets interesting. An upper 90’s fastball paired with his splitter has nasty potential that could prove pivotal in the postseason and with him now on the 40 man roster I would venture to guess he gets a postseason roster spot.
Special episode to get you ready for Hurston Waldrep's Major League debut scheduled for tomorrow!Spotify: https://t.co/LBMTotGmsqiTunes: https://t.co/vGuN3NFxvO— Peach State Prospects (@PeachStatePros) June 9, 2024
Long term I have improved my projections for Waldrep from the preseason. I didn’t think his strike-throwing would take such a step forward in such a short amount of time, and I am more confident in projecting him to a starting role long term. I don’t think his slider in its current form is the solution to his breaking ball, he will need to get a more consistent shape or even differentiate the pitch into both a sweeper and a modern vertical slider as two separate pitches. However his stuff is good enough to be a mid rotation or better starter and he has made enough progress that it feels like he is a handful of adjustments away from that outcome.
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/AU9jOLKXy86qmgV99AAK1mB7Svk=/0x0:4033x2689/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73397444/_7DZRCSl.0.jpeg">
image: Mills Fitzner, Rome Braves
Everything you need to know about Hurston Waldrep before his major league debut The Atlanta Braves continue to surprise us with their aggression, this time pushing up 2023 first round pick Hurston Waldrep to make his major league debut. The ride has been a quick one for Waldrep, who one year ago was making postseason starts for the Florida Gators and now finds himself fighting to earn a major league role.
The Braves weren’t shy in their aggression with Waldrep last season either, giving him eight total starts and pushing him all the way to Triple-A for his final one. Waldrep had massive success in these eight outings, which immediately served to skyrocket the excitement around him and push him into top 100 conversations nationally. Expectations for him were astronomical going into 2024, but there was reason to have some skepticism and patience for Waldrep’s development. While Waldrep had solid results his command was far off from what was expected he would need to be a major league arm, and the Braves made a point to focus on that early in the season. By taking away some of his splitter usage Waldrep was forced to work almost entirely with his fastball and slider, and the results from this had some disappointed with Waldrep’s performances early in the season.
Waldrep’s concerns often center around his violent delivery. While Waldrep has a measure of athleticism and has never been hopelessly wild, his high effort delivery and awkward mechanics lead most to assume that high level command will never be his specialty. Waldrep gets into trouble with the front half of his body, specifically when he dips his lead shoulder and loses his arm slot. This will often cause Waldrep to badly either in the dirt or arm side and up, leading to high walk totals and sliders left over the plate. The Braves haven’t fixed this problem but they’ve helped Waldrep mitigate it, and over the past few starts Waldrep has seen a leap in his strike-throwing though his low walk rates are still a matter of control-over-command. In his five May starts Waldrep gave up a 1.19 ERA and struck out 24.8% of batters, but most impressive was cutting his walk rate down to 5.6%. This earned him a call up to Triple-A, where he was fully unleashed and showed off the type of pitcher he can be.
Many talk about the mentality for Hurston Waldrep as one of his key attributes. Waldrep is a fiery competitor and is described as a perfectionist, and we’ve seen early in the season how this parlays itself into adjustments on the field. Not content with riding out his raw stuff as a means to get outs, Waldrep has put in the work both physically and mentally to be a better pitcher and it has paid quick dividend. Waldrep struck out 11 batters over six innings in his first taste of Triple-A in 2024, an impressive performance only marred by a weak home run in the first inning. Whether Waldrep is developed enough to handle the major leagues is an open question, but there is confidence that Waldrep can handle the mental aspect of the game and is willing to make adjustments where needed to maximize his potential.
Hurston Waldrep's day is complete6IP 5H 3ER 1BB 11KHe was fantastic - generating 22 whiffs to just 3 hard hit balls. pic.twitter.com/ciCxrlhC19— Gaurav (@gvedak) June 2, 2024
Waldrep features a three-pitch mix, and to start with the fastball he certainly has a somewhat unique fastball shape. Waldrep has an extremely over-the-top arm angle, and it creates a fastball with a cut-carry shape in between a typical four seam fastball and cut fastball. While Waldrep’s velocity is solid, he typically averages around 94-95 on the pitch, the shape is less-than-optimal for creating whiffs and he has had some trouble missing bats with the fastball. The inconsistency in his release also creates inconsistency in his fastball shape, which makes it even harder for him to know where the ball is going. The fastball plays down a bit from its raw velocity, but it’s still an average to maybe tick above average fastball.
Much of Waldrep’s ultimate profile will be determined by his slider. The pitch has improved some this year, as he is landing it more consistently and has figured out how to utilize it as a strikeout pitch. Still I don’t see it as a consistently plus pitch, although it has flashes, due to the inconsistencies in shape and movement. Waldrep’s slider can very between sweepy and vertical and all shapes in between, and as such it tends to be the pitch he struggles with most. When landed with some measure of consistency he gets whiffs at an above average rate, but he needs to tighten up the shape of the pitch in order to stick as a starter.
Episode 2 is up on RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Click the first link on our Linktree for help finding the episode https://t.co/dIdBFqTMmx— Peach State Prospects (@PeachStatePros) May 2, 2024
Waldrep’s best pitch, and the thing everyone will be talking about when he debuts, is his split finger fastball. Waldrep is able to kill spin at an elite level, showcasing a devilish splitter that I would put an 80 grade on. While the pitch is so good it doesn’t even need to be consistently commanded to get outs he still commands it better than his fastball and slider, and at the minor league level he has left hitters discouraged and hopeless in their attacks against him. Waldrep can get whiffs from any batter in any count, and will use his splitter more than his other two pitches with a usage rate around 40%. This pitch alone is probably enough to make him a major league reliever right now, and it will immediately give him a go-to weapon that most pitchers lack when getting their first taste of the major leagues.
I have tempered my expectations for Waldrep somewhat going into this start. The Nationals are generally about as good a matchup as he can get — they have the second-lowest run value in baseball against splitters and an above average chase rate as a team — but it’s still a major league lineup and navigating it multiple times will be a challenge. If his slider is working he will be fine, but if he is splitter dependent the Nationals will likely be able to figure out something against him the second time through. Generally I don’t think he is ready for a long-term major league starting role, and that’s fine given where his development is right now. When he was drafted there was no one who truly thought he would be ready in less than a year, and he is at a point right now where he can be at least a decent spot starter for the major league team.
Looking at the rest of the season and into the playoffs I don’t think Waldrep will be a traditional every-fifth-day starter for the Braves. Again, I don’t think he’s ready for that. However, there are ways they can utilize him at the major league level right now that would make him an effective player. One, in a shorter role once or maybe even 12-15 batters through a lineup he is a guy that has the raw stuff to succeed especially against hitters who have never seen his splitter. His pitches have a unique shape so he’s a bit hard to track and that will give him some advantage when facing major league hitters the first time. Waldrep has touched as high as 99 and in shorter stints I believe he could air it out more and sit 96-99, where his fastball and slider will play up even more. Then of course you could deploy Waldrep in a relief role, where his splitter is so good that right now he could pitch in high leverage spots and be successful. The Braves have a good enough bullpen they don’t need him necessarily, but he is already on the 40-man roster and when looking at the active roster he certainly could replace a handful of those relievers in the postseason. Both of those ideas would be looking ahead. For now the Braves will deploy him in a standard starting role, and if they don’t believe he will stick in a rotation right now then they’ll have him start at Triple-A. There is no reason for them to interrupt his development over some regular season games when with expanded playoffs they are all but guaranteed to get into October baseball. October baseball though, that’s when it gets interesting. An upper 90’s fastball paired with his splitter has nasty potential that could prove pivotal in the postseason and with him now on the 40 man roster I would venture to guess he gets a postseason roster spot.
Special episode to get you ready for Hurston Waldrep's Major League debut scheduled for tomorrow!Spotify: https://t.co/LBMTotGmsqiTunes: https://t.co/vGuN3NFxvO— Peach State Prospects (@PeachStatePros) June 9, 2024
Long term I have improved my projections for Waldrep from the preseason. I didn’t think his strike-throwing would take such a step forward in such a short amount of time, and I am more confident in projecting him to a starting role long term. I don’t think his slider in its current form is the solution to his breaking ball, he will need to get a more consistent shape or even differentiate the pitch into both a sweeper and a modern vertical slider as two separate pitches. However his stuff is good enough to be a mid rotation or better starter and he has made enough progress that it feels like he is a handful of adjustments away from that outcome.
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