PHILADELPHIA — Top prospect Hurston Waldrep, the No. 24 overall selection by the Braves in the 2023 MLB draft, is expected to begin the season at Double-A Mississippi, according to a person familiar with the situation.
The Triple-A Gwinnett Stripers on Thursday released their roster and Waldrep wasn’t on it. This should not be viewed as a demotion. It was more of a numbers game.
Triple-A starters AJ Smith-Shawver, Bryce Elder, Darius Vines, Dylan Dodd, Allan Winans and Huascar Ynoa all are on the 40-man roster. At this point, Waldrep is not. A team can have only so many starting pitchers, so it made the most sense for the Braves to start Waldrep at Double-A, even after the right-hander reached Triple-A to end last year.
In the draft process, the Braves loved Waldrep’s nasty splitter. He has great stuff, and he’s a college product with more polish than a high school pitcher.
Across two appearances in big-league spring training games, the 22-year-old Waldrep threw 4-1/3 scoreless frames. He struck out five, walked four and allowed two hits.
“I’ve been really impressed with the maturity and how he’s gone about it,” manager Brian Snitker said after Waldrep’s March 8 outing against the Pirates. “I love the stuff, the young man. I’ve been very impressed with him in his first big-league camp. I’ve thought he’s handled himself really, really well.”
MLB Pipeline has Waldrep as the Braves’ No. 2 prospect, right behind Smith-Shawver.
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