Diekman was a non-roster invitee but Pilar was a Rule 5 draftee, so this is pretty important
The Atlanta Braves continued to clarify their relief pitching situation by making a couple of moves here on Wednesday afternoon. Earlier today, it was reported that the Braves had released reliever Jake Diekman, making him a free agent once again after they brought him to spring training as a non-roster invitee. Our own Stephen Tolbert noticed it on MLB.com’s transaction log.
The Braves have released RP Jake Diekman according to their transactions page
— Stephen (@b_outliers) March 19, 2025
Diekman had a rough 2024 season with the New York Mets, where he finished the year with a 5.63 ERA, a 5.11 FIP and -0.8 fWAR over the course of 32 innings pitched for them. He ran into some issues over the seven appearances he made in spring training for the Braves but it still seemed like he had a decent shot to stick around since he was a left-handed reliever. Apparently that (and some spotty command) wasn’t enough to keep him around and now the Braves have decided to give him a chance to latch on elsewhere.
Speaking of going elsewhere, the Braves sent one of their Rule 5 Draft selections back to their original team. The Braves took Anderson Pilar during the draft this past winter with the idea of potentially giving him a shot to slide into the bullpen. That won’t be happening in Atlanta, as the Braves decided that they wouldn’t be carrying him on their active roster and have returned him to the Marlins as a result. Jesse Rogers of ESPN was the first to report the news.
That time of the spring when decisions on Rule 5 picks are made. The Braves are returning reliever Anderson Pilar to the Marlins, per a source.
— Jesse Rogers (@JesseRogersESPN) March 19, 2025
For Pilar, the writing was on the wall when the Braves sent him to Clearwater to start against a pretty-close-to-full strength Phillies lineup last week. The Phillies jumped all over him, Pilar found himself pulled from the game twice and it was apparent that he probably was not ready for The Show just yet. So now the Braves have made their decision and if they see him again, it’ll be as a divisional rival.
This is actually a pretty significant move since Pilar was on the active roster and that’s now a spot that has opened up for the Braves to fill. We’ll see how they chose to fill that spot in their roster but for now, we have two more players who won’t be coming with the Braves once Opening Day rolls around.