Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.
Bright copper kettles and … Acuña hittin’.
That’s right, friends. The Braves are back on the grind and so is your (ahem) favorite weekly newsletter.
Today we’ve got AJC beat writer Chad Bishop batting leadoff with a little rotation talk.
Pull up and strap in.
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ROTATION REARRANGEMENT
NORTH PORT, Fla. — Braves Country, loudly and emphatically, has been clamoring for the Braves to add a starting pitcher through free agency. Those shouts grew louder this week when it was announced that Spencer Schwellenbach would begin the season on the 60-day injured list because of more right elbow troubles.
But maybe the Braves’ next starting pitcher is already on the roster?
“Hurston (Waldrep) is really impressive,” Braves manager Walt Weiss said Thursday at CoolToday Park. “It’s big-time stuff, it’s big-time swing and miss stuff, and I think we’ve just seen the tip of the iceberg with him. He’s exciting.”
Waldrep was one of three Braves pitchers to throw live batting practice Thursday, sandwiched between veteran Chris Sale and fellow youngster J.R. Ritchie. He faced Ronald Acuña Jr., Chadwick Tromp and Ozzie Albies and provided some comic relief when one of his pitches bounced and caught Albies on the back of the leg just below the, ahem, derriere.
A Thomasville High School graduate who pitched for Florida and Southern Mississippi, the Braves took Waldrep with the No. 24 pick in the 2023 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut a year later in two starts (neither of which went very well), then went 6-1 with a 2.88 ERA in 10 games starting in early August.
General manager Alex Anthopoulos said this morning that Grant Holmes and Reynaldo López are penciled into the rotation behind Chris Sale and Spencer Strider. He deemed the competition for the fifth starting spot an open one.
The tricky part with Waldrep, who turns 24 at the start of March, is that he still has options, meaning he can still be sent to the minors without having to clear waivers. That’s good news for the Braves long term, but might mean Waldrep could start 2026 in Gwinnett instead of taking a roster spot from, say, Bryce Elder or Joey Wentz, who are all out of options.
It’s an intriguing development for the Braves to wrestle, especially given the club’s (lack of) injury luck in 2025 and the lack, so far, of any big-name offseason acquisitions.
📲 Thanks, Chad! Y’all make sure to follow him at @MrChadBishop — and bookmark this page to keep tabs on his more offbeat spring training adventures, too.
QUICK, SOME OTHER NEWS!
⭐ Ronald Acuña Jr. boogied with Bad Bunny during the Super Bowl halftime show. Would you believe he wasn’t asked until day-of?
❤️ Consider Ozzie Albies stoked about fellow Curaçaoan Andruw Jones heading to the Hall of Fame.
📺 We now know Tubi (the free streamer better known for cheaply made movies) will air the forthcoming World Baseball Classic game pitting Albies, Jones and the rest of the Dutch squad against Acuña and Venezuela.
- Tune in at noon on March 6. Full WBC schedule here.
🤔 FanGraphs still thinks the Braves will win more games than anyone else in the division this year. Let Gabe Burns refresh your memory on everything the NL East bad guys were up to in the offseason.
😬 Semi-related: The Phillies just cut bait with outfielder Nick Castellanos, who admitted to bringing a beer into the dugout last season.
👋🏻 A short scouting report on Jonah Heim, the potential catching complement to Drake Baldwin until Sean Murphy gets healthy: Switch hitter who’s struggled at the plate since winning a title with the Rangers in 2023.
🥇 Big leaguers in the 2028 Olympics? The commish says don’t count it out. (But let’s maybe focus on avoiding a 2027 work stoppage first.)
GET ON UP, IT’S MAILBAG TIME
Have burning Braves questions? Send ‘em our way.
📬 From RJ in Rome (abridged): “Just how long will the Braves wait on Michael Harris before sitting him or trading him? I thought this offseason would have been a great time to move him and get someone who can play center but get on base as opposed to grounding out to the second baseman each at bat.”
Chad’s response: RJ, let’s start with Harris’ contract: eight years, $72 million. Signed in August 2022. That makes it’s a little bit more complicated than just “sitting him” or “trading him.”
- It’s also worth noting that Harris’ RBI total (86) and home run total (20) in 2025 were both career highs, he has stolen 20 bases in three of his four MLB seasons and MLB.com recently ranked Harris the No. 4 center fielder in the league.
- But to your point, a .268 on-base percentage isn’t going to cut it, so there is room to improve there. And avoiding the slow starts (Harris is a .210 hitter in the “first half” and .299 hitter in the “second half”) is imperative.
Perhaps 2026 is the season Harris puts it all together? Regardless, you’re kind of “stuck” with him for the near future.
📬 From Dave in Gainesville: “I like this. I am Dave from Gainesville, Ga.”
Chad’s response: I like this too. I am Chad from Snellville, Ga.
📬 From John in Florida: “Will the new Braves TV Network be included in the New Smyrna Beach/Daytona Beach broadcast territory? Have a wonderful day!”
Chad’s response: John, I hope so! But we still don’t know the latest on that very fluid situation, although Ken Sugiura had the latest earlier this month. Stay tuned (pun intended) and you also have a wonderful day!
THE BEST BROADCASTING BET
Speaking of “how and where will we watch Braves games on TV this season?” … it’s still crickets, officially.
We’re sure they’ve been working on it for a while, something’s close to being finalized and it’ll be a lovely, viewer-friendly product. But just in case, we conducted our own little focus group.
The results from last week’s poll gauging your broadcast preferences:
📊 Give me that over-the-air goodness: 48%
📊 Standalone streaming situation, please: 11%
📊 Let MLB do it, you’re making me nervous: 15%
📊 Man, just make it available and I’ll figure it out: 26%
Given the Bravos’ Superstation roots, perhaps it’s unsurprising that the largest number of folks would lobby for an old-school offering from someone like Gray TV — which just announced it’ll carry 15 spring training games in the coming weeks.
The dates:
- Feb. 22, 24, 25, 26 and 27, plus March 1, 4, 5, 7, 12, 13, 14, 17 and 21.
- The March 12 and 14 games start at 6 p.m. All others are 1 p.m. affairs.
- March 21’s broadcast schedule also includes a 6:30 p.m. “Spring Breakout” game pitting Braves prospects against Yankees farmhands.
Smells like a possible test run for the regular season, no? Check out bravesongray.com to find local info.
PHOTO OF THE WEEK
Brian Snitker’s truly living his best life. We love to see it.
More spring training photos here and here.
Thanks for reading Braves Report. Tell a friend — and maybe give the AJC’s Win Column newsletter a shot, too.
Until next time.
About the Author
Tyler Estep hosts the AJC Win Column, Atlanta's new weekly destination for all things sports. He also shepherds the Sports Daily and Braves Report newsletters to your inbox.
