Former Gators Starting Pitcher on Historic Run with Braves

The former Florida Gators starting pitcher is having a run only seen one other time by a rookie pitcher in MLB

The former Florida Gators pitcher has been unreal since returning to the Majors | Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

Hurston Waldrep dominates again for the Atlanta Braves in arguably his best start yet. The former Florida Gators weekend starter delivered seven scoreless innings, allowing four hits and a walk while striking out seven. 

He reached a career-high innings pitched in the major leagues and matched a career-high in strikeouts. He punched out seven in his last start. 

We’ve been waiting to see when he’ll blink first in a game, and so far, that moment hasn’t come. Through four outings, three starts, his ERA is down to 0.73 with a near-identical 0.77 WHIP. 

Yet again, his splitter remains a lethal pitch to hitters with all seven of his strikeouts coming on the pitch. Waldrep also felt like his curveball has been an effective pitch as well along with his sinker. 

The changes he made to his mechanics and the changes to his arsenal in the minors didn’t just help him correct course. So far, they’ve made him into one of the best pitchers in baseball since coming up to the big leagues. 

“Yeah, that’s kind of the beauty of getting into a rhythm and routine and just being able to roll off with everything,” Waldrep said after the game. “You know, it’s kind of like a little bit of a compound of everything we’ve worked on throughout the year, just seeing everything pay off.” 

Waldrep’s run has entered historic territory. He has become the second rookie in MLB’s modern era (since 1901) to win each of his first four appearances and allow one or fewer earned runs. The only other pitcher to do that was Fernando Valenzuela, who is best known for his electric Cy Young Award-winning and NL Rookie of the Year-winning season in 1981.

That’s not too shabby of company for Waldrep to find himself in. It also shows sometimes that looking at a pitcher’s record doesn’t hurt. He’s certainly earn each and every one of those four wins. 

All of this came to be because of rain delay what was meant to be a landmark event in Bristol, Tenn. a little over two weeks ago. He got up before the crack of dawn to drive up from Gwinnett, and he was able to make the most of his chance. 

“That was a pretty special day for baseball doing something that had never been done before, and how he handled that,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “That spoke volumes to where he was.”  

By the time the end of the season rolls around, barring a total unravel, it won’t be much of a debate whether he will be in the rotation next season when everyone is healthy. He will be presumed to be an Opening Day member of it. 

Waldrep spent one season with Florida as a junior, going 10-3 with a 4.16 ERA while making all 19 of his scheduled weekend starts. His 156 strikeouts in a single season rank second all-time in program history. He was named Second Team All-American by D1 Baseball and was selected to the 2023 Gainesville Regional All-Tournament team. 

He helped lead them to an appearance in the College World Series, where they fell a win short of their second national championship.