Fastball

Atlanta Braves Top Prospect to Undergo Tommy John Surgery

The Braves have been hit hard by injuries at the major league level this year, and now it's infiltrating the minors as well.
Brady Farkas|
Atlanta Braves Top Prospect to Undergo Tommy John Surgery
Atlanta Braves Top Prospect to Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Atlanta Braves

The Atlanta Braves have already dealt with a number of injuries at the major league level this year, and now the issue is infiltrating the minor league level.

The team has already played large stretches of this season without starting pitchers Max Fried and Kyle Wright, as well as catcher Travis D'Arnaud, outfielder Michael Harris II, shortstop Orlando Arcia, reliever Collin McHugh, and closer Raisel Iglesias.

Now? They'll be without their No. 3 overall prospect JR Ritchie, who will undergo Tommy John surgery. The pitcher was drafted in the 2022 draft out of the Washington high school ranks.

The Braves site "Battery Power" had the news.

Here's the MLB.com profile on Ritchie:

As the 2022 Draft approached. JR Ritchie and Owen Murphy were ranked back-to-back on MLB Pipeline’s Draft Top 250 list. The Braves nabbed Murphy in the first round and then doubled up on high school right-handers by getting Ritchie, who calls Bainbridge Island in the state of Washington home, 15 picks later in the Competitive Balance Round A. Ritchie received a bonus of $2.4 million, a bit over slot, to join the organization and made a solid, albeit brief, pro debut after signing.

Ritchie and Murphy are bound to be compared to one another as they climb up the Braves’ ladder, and there are some similarities, from general build to athleticism on the mound. While Murphy’s fastball might be ahead, Ritchie’s feel for his secondary stuff surpasses Murphy’s. His best pitch is his slider, a sharp low-80s breaking ball that misses a lot of bats, but he also has a slower effective curve he can fold in. He sells his changeup well with good arm speed.

Like Murphy, Ritchie also repeats his delivery well and throws a ton of strikes with all four of his pitches. He and Murphy will be able to push each other and develop together, with both having the chance to pitch in the middle of the Braves rotation in the future.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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