Braves Prospects Stock Watch: Hurston Waldrep leads rising pitching wave

Everything clicked for Waldrep in May, as his strike throwing stepped forward and he dominated in Mississippi’s rotation

May is in the books, and it was certainly one of the months of the year for the Atlanta Braves. The good news is, despite the mediocre results at the major league level it seems there is going to be some help coming in the future. Particularly among pitchers, a number of prospects took a step forward in May to solidify their top prospect status and put themselves in contention for future rotation spots.

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Hurston Waldrep – 2024 got off to a bit of a slow start for Waldrep, as his April numbers lagged behind expectations and there were some who felt disappointment in his lack of progression. Still, knowing the process behind the results for Waldrep and Atlanta’s limitations on his splitter usage I hesitated to draw any sort of negative conclusion and Waldrep rewarded that with a tremendous month in May. Waldrep had an ERA just a touch over one through his five starts last month, but more impressively cut his walk rate to just seven in 30 ¹⁄₃ innings. With his splitter now fully back implemented into his arsenal he has gone from solid to dominant, and his strike-throwing has progressed enough to improve confidence in him keeping a starting role moving forward.

Spencer Schwellenbach – The Braves are going to surprise us at least once each year, and this season it was Spencer Schwellenbach going to the major leagues after just two Double-A starts. What a two starts they were as well. Schwellenbach was fully in control in every aspect, striking out 17 batters and allowing just one walk over 13 innings. There have been no signs of slowing down as he has now pitched the longest stretch of healthy ball in his professional career, and for the time being it seems they’ll give him a chance to keep his role in Atlanta. For good reason too. The addition of his cutter and progression of his splitter, along with a general improvement in pitch location made him one of the most impressive arms in the system.

Didier Fuentes – It’s crazy to think that a guy like Fuentes has been largely overlooked this season, as how often do you see a player go to full season ball at age 18 and post a sub-3 ERA. Fuentes has taken his strike-throwing to another level this season, and especially in May when he walked just 5.5% of batters while striking out 26. This includes a career-high 11 strikeout performance on May 21st. There are growing pains for Fuentes as he hasn’t found a consistent third pitch and still struggles with the finer points of his command, but looking at the full picture this is an 18 year old who has gotten into the upper 90’s, has fantastic arm speed, and has already shown an average to above average slider. There is plenty of time for him to develop and he is already well ahead of the curve for his age.

Lucas Braun – It’s a bit of an overused trope to say that a player is better than the sum of his parts, but in Braun’s case it seems he is really developing into a guy that can do everything without having a standout tool. His command may be the best in the system right now, and that allows him to work with four pitches none of which grade much above average but all of which he can break out in any count with confidence. Braun posted a 2.77 FIP in May, and is drifting ever closer to earning a call to the suddenly weakened Mississippi rotation. Braun’s ceiling may be limited, but he seems to have the makings of a solid back end starter.

Ambioris Tavarez – There is some bad news here, but I would like to start with the good. Tavarez’s numbers were not great last month, but we saw by far the best stretch of both plate discipline and contact from him while he also put up decent power numbers given the league he was playing in. Tavarez has thrown out all kinds of red flags, but there has been steady work going on to fix him and all of the sudden it seems like those efforts are starting to turn things around. I’m still hesitant on Tavarez, but with his defense and power it wouldn’t take much contact for him to turn into a solid major league shortstop. Now for the negative — Tavarez is currently dealing with a minor fracture in his hand and is going to miss up to a couple of months. This is an unfortunate blow to a player who has dealt with injuries throughout his career and finally seemed to be turning a corner.

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Owen Murphy – It’s nothing of Murphy’s fault that he is on this list, it’s just the nature of pitchers that he is here. Murphy has been fantastic this season and finished off with an 11 strikeout day, but soon after disappeared and it was announced he underwent Tommy John surgery. Murphy at this point likely misses all of 2025 as well, though he could see a late season return, and that drops his value significantly. Still, Murphy is young and there is going to be plenty of chance for him to recover and slot back into the rotation plans.

Drake Baldwin – Another mixed bag here when it comes to Baldwin, as I don’t think he has wholly dropped a lot in the rankings. His defense is improved this season and I have full confidence he sticks behind the plate now, and in the month of May he did improve swing decisions and contact rates. Unfortunately he just isn’t hitting the ball hard right now and it’s not just the Southern league run environment that is hurting him. In order to project to a regular role the power is going to have to come as his results against breaking balls still aren’t good enough to feel huge confidence in his hit tool at the upper levels. Baldwin hasn’t really made strides against left handed pitching either, so it seems that he may end up in a platoon role long term though he is on the better side of the platoon.

Diego Benitez – There really is nothing you can say about Benitez here. He has just been bad, and at times lost at the plate and in the field. He has done nothing well other than occasional flashes of raw power, and I don’t know if his hit tool will be enough to allow him to play outside of a middle infield role. Benitez is still 19 and has some raw power so I don’t want to write him off entirely, but at least in the case of guys like Isaiah Drake and Ambioris Tavarez who struggled at that level those guys are going to stick at premium defensive positions.

Sabin Ceballos – Ceballos is on a 27 game on base streak and this is a bit of a soft down arrow, but there just has to be a certain amount of concern with his inability to produce hard contact. The power hasn’t been there as hoped this season, and he is going to have to hit well and have power to get to a major league regular role. While Ceballos has the tools to play third base it’s been an ugly showing for him as he makes too many mistakes on even simple plays and doesn’t have the mobility to make the spectacular ones. If he can progress on defense I will feel better about his projections, but right now a first baseman with limited power isn’t exactly an impact profile.

Douglas Glod – Like Benitez, Glod is still very young so it’s hard to be overly negative towards him, but returning to the complex league and still not hitting the second time around is a problem. Glod has all the power in the world, but is going to end up in a corner outfield role where his hit tool hasn’t shown signs of being good enough. He had success late last year against a then diluted field of pitching talent, but hasn’t taken that over to this season and the reports on his bat-to-ball skills aren’t particularly rosy.

Non-Top 30 prospects making moves

Ian Mejia – Sometimes you just miss on a guy, and Ian Mejia seems like one of those players that we will regret not having in our top 30. He didn’t allow a run in Double-A last month, though the one start in Triple-A was rough and he was a bit of a victim of the adjustment to the full ABS system. Mejia’s location and changeup have improved dramatically this year, giving him a potential back end or middle relief projection given how impressive his slider has been. He’s not among the elite prospects in the system but he has certainly put himself solidly in the middle of it.

Cal Conley – I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I think Conley is going to be one of the guys making major contributions in Atlanta. I think his ceiling is limited, however he’s objectively making better swing decisions and more consistent contact. There isn’t enough power/hit for him to do both well enough to project to a starting role but he has improved dramatically on the defensive end to the point I feel much more content projecting him to a utility future.

EJ Exposito – EJ Exposito just had one of the best months we’ve seen from a prospect in a long time, putting up a 181 wRC+ and seven home runs in May. He did this while also cutting his strikeout rate below 20% and earning himself regular playing time after starting the season on the bench. His power is almost entirely pull side and I don’t think his ability to handle secondary pitches are quite enough to get him to a full time role at the major league level, but he has really turned a corner. Exposito is a well-liked player in the clubhouse and a good enough defender to play shortstop in a pinch, though with an arm that isn’t good enough to play there full time. Still, overall a great showing this season and a player who has gone from fringy player with solid underlying tools to a guy who has been a true leader and legit prospect.