Hurston Waldrep makes season debut in Braves’ win over Giants

SAN FRANCISCO — Hurston Waldrep has made the trot in from the bullpen before. In college. For Southern Mississippi. Five years ago.

So this was quite different, to say the least.

Waldrep made his 2026 season debut on Friday at Oracle Park on a chilly and damp night in a 3-1 Braves win over the Giants. The right-hander, expected to be in the team’s starting rotation before elbow surgery in February changed his fate, entered the game in the fifth inning and left in the seventh after throwing 55 pitches.

“My first relief appearance since my freshman year of college, so I’m not gonna do the math on that,” Waldrep said. “And first time that I’ve really had to come in with some long relief.”

Fact-checking Waldrep, he threw 3⅔ innings of relief in a loss to Louisiana Tech on April 17, 2021. But enough about the past.

Waldrep’s outing Friday was another step in his return to the Braves’ rotation, even if the circumstances in which he did that were unconventional. Waldrep claimed he didn’t know what’s next for him in the short term, whether he would stay with the Braves or return to Triple-A. Manager Walt Weiss said, regardless, it’s not to be expected that Waldrep spends too many more games in the bullpen — if any at all.

“The thing is, we don’t necessarily want to decondition him as a starter. That’s why I sent him back out there for the seventh,” Weiss said. “I wanted to keep his pitch count up a little bit. I think we want to still keep him in the picture as a starter. We don’t want to decondition him just yet.”

Waldrep said he was told Thursday he’d be leaving Nashville, Tennessee — where he and the Triple-A Gwinnett Stripers were playing — to fly to San Francisco to join the Braves ahead of this weekend’s series. His season debut began in the middle of Friday’s game after Reynaldo López threw three innings and Dylan Dodd pitched a scoreless fourth inning.

Waldrep, staked to a 3-1 lead, came in and threw a 95 mph sinker outside to Matt Chapman for a ball — and he was off and running.

The Thomasville native struck out Chapman before allowing a single and walking the next two hitters to load the bases. Giants designated hitter Bryce Eldridge struck out on a slider down-and-in, and then Luis Arráez hit a 95 mph first-pitch sinker to short for a fielder’s choice.

Waldrep, who had surgery on his right elbow 16 weeks ago, got two easy outs to start the sixth before issuing his third walk of the game. He got Chapman to swing and miss on an 85 mph splitter to end the inning.

A walk and an infield single ended Waldrep’s night in the seventh. Of the 55 pitches Waldrep threw, 28 were strikes, which was not a pleasing ratio.

“I think the sinker kind of stole the show for the walks tonight,” Waldrep said. “Really, I was not accustomed to the way the ball was moving here, but you know that’s a part of playing across the country and traveling the way we do. You have to adjust to those environments no matter what.

“I can’t sit here and use that as an excuse for why I had the four walks at all. That’s completely on me to be able to adjust and to make those adjustments. But then again, you get out of the jam, you put up zeros, and you know the walks are irrelevant.”