Braves See Hurston Waldrep's Triple-A Start Stalled By Heavy Rain

Hurston Waldrep made his return to Triple-A Gwinnett when he took the mound for his latest start on Tuesday night.

Due to heavy rain, the Atlanta Braves right-hander only managed to throw three innings and 53 pitches. However, there were signs that he’s progressing. All three of those innings were scoreless, and he didn’t allow a hit.

Another positive is that his sinker averaged 93.5 mph while topping out at around 96.4 mph. He utilized six of his pitches at some point during his start.

The downside is that the command still has a bit of a way to go. He only induced four whiffs on the night, struck out just a single batter, and he walked four. Because of the weather, he didn’t get to stretch out much further either.

He threw exactly 53 pitches in his start with Double-A Columbus last week.

When he gets another start later this week, he’ll be able to get past that threshold. If he had been able to go deeper, he likely would have been able to get up to around 65 or 70 pitches. Maybe that gets him through about four or so innings.

So, at the worst, when he could have been up with the Braves in the majors was delayed a time through the rotation. It's just how it all panned out. If he had been penciled in for Wednesday, he would have been fine. Timing is everything.

While he's no longer officially on a rehab assignment, Waldrep is still building up after recovering from elbow surgery that he underwent early in spring training.

When the time comes, the Braves will have another arm to help aid the rotation and get them needed innings. He was able to be that starter for the final two months of the 2025 season.

He pitched in 10 games, nine of which were officially starts. However, that outing where he techincally pitched in relief was for all intents and purposes a start due to the MLB Speedway Classic being in the bottom of the first inning when it was rained out.

Across 56 1/3 innings, he pitched to a 2.88 ERA with a 1.19 WHIP and 55 strikeouts. His timely step up helped stabalize the Braves rotation have months of injury and chaos.

It's been a much more stable situation this season, but it's been chess game at times. The rotation has had to be series-by-series at times. Reynaldo López had to move to the bullpen, and Martín Pérez had to leave the starter role to aid the bullpen.

Now, Spencer Strider is hurt, and JR Ritchie is in the rotation. Knowing what can go wrong at any time, his time will come eventually. He needs to get through his version of spring training first.

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