Braves Prospect Didier Fuentes Delivers Electric Outing in Triple-A

Didier Fuentes is that much closer to being ready for the big league rotation after his latest outing on Wednesday. The Atlanta Braves prospect gave Triple-A Gwinnett six scoreless innings, while allowing two hits and four walks while striking out eight.

A key note is that he's stretch out to 86 pitches from 72 in his last start. He threw just under 60% of pitches for strikes. He command became a little more erratic toward the end, but granted, it was the deepest he had pitched into a game so far this year.

He may have been showing some signs of tiring, but it didn't appear that way from a velocity standpoint. He was hitting 99 mph in his final inning of work. His breaking pitches continue to show promising effectiveness.

"The fastball's always been big, but the secondary stuff is where I think he's really stepped it up, with a breaking ball and the splitter change," Braves manager Walt Weiss said earlier this season.

Through two starts in Triple-A, he has a 9 2/3 scoreless innings with 15 strikeouts. He likely isn't that far away from returning to the Braves. Time to wait and see. A full seven-game suspension from Reynaldo López would have increased his chances of coming up in the next few days, but now, López's start is unaffected.

Fuentes was on the Braves opening day roster, but it was clear from the jump the intention was to start him in the majors then move him back down to Triple-A. However, after the dominant spring he had, it worth getting him some action when they needed a long reliever during the first series of the season.

After Grant Holmes gave the team five innings against the Royals on March 29, Fuentes gave the team the needed innings to take the pressure off the bullpen in a loss. He pitched four innings of one-run ball, while striking out four.

Overall, in spring training, he finished with a 0.66 ERA, a 0.22 WHIP and 18 strikeouts over 13 2/3 innings. At one point, he retired 27 consecutive batters.

Currently, the Braves rotation consists of Chris Sale, Spencer Strider, Reynaldo López and Grant Holmes. Martín Pérez and Jose Suarez have also gotten starts. As the season moves on, Fuentes is poised to take that fifth spot. Each start has only built his case.