Braves Report: Throwing pains

Hey y’all. Happy Thursday.

The Braves Report is taking July Fourth off, so this is the last you’ll hear from us until next week.

But don’t worry — there’s, uh, plenty to talk about.

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP

Be careful now, fellas. After that offensive outburst last night, you might mess around and win a series.

📺 How to watch: First pitch of the rubber match with the Angels arrives at 7:15 p.m. on FanDuel Sports.

⚾ The pitching matchup: Bryce Elder (2-5, 5.82) vs. José Soriano (5-5, 3.99 ERA)

📝 The scouting report: Soriano has been pretty good for L.A. this year — but is coming off a four-inning, eight-run outing against the Nationals. Elder’s last start was, somehow, even worse (remember the 13-0 loss to the Phillies?)

ANOTHER ONE, HUH?

Credit: Pamela Smith/AP

Credit: Pamela Smith/AP

Perhaps you heard that Spencer Schwellenbach fractured his elbow, throwing the already thinned-out Braves pitching staff into full-on desperation mode.

As far as the bigger-picture questions go (buy? sell? something in between?), I’ll refer you back to this morning’s edition of Sports Daily. It’s got thoughts from reporter Gabe Burns and senior sports editor Rod Beard.

Here I want to take a closer look at Atlanta’s existing options for filling out a rotation:

⚾ Spencer Strider and Grant Holmes aren’t going anywhere. Nor is Elder, at this point.

⚾ Didier Fuentes? Three starts in, the 20-year-old has a 9.00 ERA and has covered just 12 total innings. He’ll get more cracks at it — but feels like a near-term answer, not a long-term solution.

⚾ As the aforementioned Mr. Burns reported, the viable options at Triple-A boil down to Jackson Stephens, Hurston Waldrep and Nathan Wiles.

Waldrep, 23, is considered the organization’s No. 2 prospect, but has struggled a bit in Gwinnett. He didn’t fare well in his two major league starts in 2024, either.

⚾ The odds of top prospect Cam Caminiti getting the call are pretty close to zero. He’s 18 years old, still in Single-A and has nine professional starts to his name.

⚾ Semi-viable candidate: JR Ritchie, who recently ascended to Double-A, has posted a 2.51 ERA with Rome and Columbus this season.

So what’s the move, y’all?

I tend to think we’ll see a lot of that Triple-A trio. There’s also a pretty good chance the Braves end up bringing in help from the outside — but don’t expect anything overly exciting.

I’m talking more along the lines of “random veteran available on the cheap,” to save the youngsters’ arms some wear and tear.

WHAT PROFAR SAID

Credit: Mike Stewart/AP

In his return to the Braves lineup last night, outfielder Jurickson Profar started the two-out rally that ultimately resulted in seven Atlanta runs. He added a homer later.

Before all that, he addressed the whole performance-enhancing drug thing for the first time (beyond an initial written statement).

A few things he told reporters before the game:

1️⃣ “First of all, I want to formally apologize to my teammates, coaches, staff and entire Braves organization. And the fans. I didn’t take anything on purpose, but, again, like I said in my statement, I’m responsible for what goes in my body. I did the 80 games and it was hard. It was hard, but I did it and, like I said, I’m responsible. There’s no excuses. I’m responsible for what goes in my body.”

2️⃣ “During that 80 games I worked really, really hard to put myself in the best position to come back and succeed and help my team. That’s the only thing that I can control. Everybody can have their own opinion with their rights. I can control only my playing.”

WARM FUZZIES

In less than two weeks, Ronald Acuña Jr. will start his fifth career All-Star game — becoming the only Brave not named Henry Aaron or Dale Murphy to do so that many times.

And like those other gentlemen, he hopes to stick around Atlanta for a long time.

❤️ Acuña, via team interpreter Franco Garcia: “Outside of Venezuela, Atlanta is my second home. I love being here. I want to continue being in this organization and being part of this organization for the rest of my career. I’m comfortable here. I like it here. I feel like I know everyone. So for me, it’d be a dream to be able to stay here.”

Will the Braves eventually (and uncharacteristically) pony up to make that happen? Who knows. But we’ve got a few years until we have to worry about it.