‘It’s pretty unbelievable’: Braves rookie JR Ritchie back home to face Mariners

SEATTLE — On July 17, 2022, the Atlanta Braves chose a right-handed pitcher out of Bainbridge Island, Washington, in the first round of the MLB draft at No. 35 overall. That pitcher was Ian “JR” Ritchie Jr.

Two months later, the Braves were in Seattle to play the Mariners in a three-game series.

“A lot of people back home would ask me, ‘So you gonna make the trip with the team?’ I’m like, ‘You know, that’s actually not how it works.’ Hopefully one day,” Ritchie said during a conversation with The Atlanta-Journal Constitution.

Well, “one day” is here, four years later, in the epitome of a stars-aligning moment for Ritchie, the Braves and the community of Bainbridge Island.

Ritchie will be on the mound for the Braves on Monday in the opener of a three-game series between his current team and the Mariners, the team he followed in his youth. It’s just the third major league start for the 22-year-old — the first was his MLB debut in Washington, D.C.; his second was his home debut at Truist Park and his third will be across Puget Sound and Elliott Bay from where he spent his childhood.

“I was thinking about it and I’m like, ‘You know, this isn’t even like a year, once-a-year, twice-a-year thing. Like this is every two years that this happens,’” Ritchie said of the Braves playing in Seattle. “So, what are the odds of that? It’s pretty unbelievable.”

There was a cheering party of about 50 on April 23 in D.C. when Ritchie pitched in an MLB game for the first time. He doesn’t even want to know how many people will be at T-Mobile Park in Seattle on Monday, he said. Ritchie and his parents agreed to not discuss the massive number of ticket requests that have been made by those who want to be a part of Ritchie’s homecoming.

But this is a big deal.

Ritchie became the first Bainbridge native to be drafted since Brian Coleman in 1990. He was the highest draft pick from Kitsap County, Washington, since North Kitsap High School’s Aaron Sele was taken 23rd overall by the Red Sox in 1991.

That it only took him less than four years to make it to The Show and that one of his first appearances in a Braves uniform is just 10 miles from his hometown is remarkable.

Ritchie was on professional radars from a young age. Major colleges recruited him hard, too. Ritchie originally committed to pitch for Oregon State before flipping to UCLA. He was reportedly pretty intent on playing for the Bruins, that is until the Braves gave him $2.4 million to sign with the organization in the summer of 2022.

Thus began Ritchie’s journey away from home, an expedition he was prepared to start anyway, whether it was moving to Los Angeles and taking road trips across the Pac-12 Conference, or in the Carolina and Florida Complex leagues.

That journey now includes a stop a T-Mobile Park, home of the Mariners, where even as recently as Oct. 10, 2025, Ritchie and a friend attended Game 5 of the American League Division Series between the Mariners and Tigers. A ballgame, a boat ride and a return to his home were part of the itinerary that day.

Monday’s plan is similar except he will be a major part of the ballgame on this day.

“It’s been a dream of mine to pitch at T-Mobile, take the ferry back home and then sleep in my own bed. I’m really looking forward to it. It’s gonna be a lot of fun,” he said.

Despite being 22, born more than a decade after the grunge rock scene that shaped Seattle’s reputation and image in the early 1990s, Ritchie said hailing from the Seattle area undoubtedly shaped his taste in music (check out Mother Love Bone, he says) and fashion. And as a graduate of Bainbridge High School, on an island inhabited by a little less than 25,000 people, Ritchie said the uniqueness of the community is growing up with the same friends and families throughout grade school.

He called those friendships “lifelong,” and said many of his childhood companions will be at his wedding in November in Hawaii. There will also be plenty of familiar faces at T-Mobile Park on Monday where Ritchie insists he will try pitch like he would in any other game.