Atlanta Braves
Braves have plenty of starting pitching, but quality is the question
The team has a lot of decisions to make for next season.
Braves pitcher Chris Sale delivers to a Los Angeles Dodgers batter in Game 3 of the National League Division Series on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026, in Atlanta. He is under contract through 2028 and continues to be the ace of the staff. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)
By Chad Bishop
1 hour agoThe Braves have no lack of starting pitching options going into the 2027 season. The quality of that starting pitching is the real question.
Atlanta could jot down on paper a formidable rotation that looks good on, well, paper. But injuries and performances are the great wild cards, and the Braves have been on the wrong end of those facets plenty of times in recent years.
Yet the organization has stockpiled plenty of starting pitching depth to give itself, at least, a foundation with which to work ahead of the ‘27 campaign.
Here’s a closer look at who the Braves could turn to on the mound moving forward:
- Chris Sale is under contract through 2028 and continues to be the ace of the staff, no matter who is in the rotation with him. The 37-year-old’s place as the team’s No. 1 starter won’t change over the offseason.
- Spencer Strider and Spencer Schwellenbach never returned from elbow injuries in 2026. Strider’s injury came in June and Schwellenbach’s came in February. “As we sit here today, I don’t think you’re going to see us come in and say we expect those guys to be locks in the rotation with Sale,” Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos said Sunday. “I don’t think that’d be a responsible thing to say. We know what they can be when they’re healthy and they’re right, and the upside is obviously off the charts.”
- Tyler Mahle, a trade deadline acquisition from the Giants, and Martín Pérez, a late addition to the club coming out of spring training, were outstanding for the Braves in 2026. Both are now free agents and Atlanta would seemingly be in a better place if it kept one, if not both, of them.
- Bryce Elder had an impressive April and solid May. But a cumbersome right knee issue plagued him down the stretch before he opted for late-season surgery. Had the Braves advanced to the National League Championship Series, there’s a chance he would have returned to the playoff rotation.
- Reynaldo López is in the final year of a three-year contract. He made 13 starts and 26 appearances this past season while moving back and forth between the rotation and bullpen — and off and on the injured list. López has only pitched 84⅓ innings over the last two seasons.
- All Grant Holmes did in 2026 was make 29 starts, and in only two of those did he allow more than three runs. He also went at least five innings in 18 of those starts. Yet the Braves inexplicably moved the right-hander to the bullpen before the postseason and never afforded him a start in the playoffs.
- AJ Smith-Shawver has made 20 starts for the Braves since 2023. Inconsistencies as a starter in ‘26, however, forced the Braves to put him in the bullpen where he was effective at times.
- JR Ritchie made his MLB debut for the Braves this past season and went 1-5 with a 4.91 ERA. Out of his 17 appearances (11 of which were starts), Ritchie issued 43 walks. But he also had 15 strikeouts for Triple-A Gwinnett on Sept. 6 in a showcase of what the Braves hope he can be at the big-league level.
- Owen Murphy also made his MLB debut in 2026 and threw 12 innings over five games. At Triple-A Gwinnett he was 5-8 with a 3.07 ERA.
- The Braves announced in late August that Hurston Waldrep would have surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. Thus, Waldrep wouldn’t be part of the team’s rotation plans until next September at the earliest.
- It’s probably too early to consider Cam Caminiti in the team’s immediate outlook, but the 20-year-old lefty and No. 2 prospect in the organization had a 2.01 ERA in six starts with Double-A Columbus to close out his third season of pro ball. And if he has a strong spring, maybe he becomes an option sooner than expected.
- Didier Fuentes was a revelation as a high-leverage reliever for the Braves in 2026. But: “We view him as a starter long term,” Anthopoulos said. The Braves will have to weigh whether they want to continue to develop the young righty through relief innings or stretch him back out into a starter’s role.
Free agency and the trade market will heat up on the heels of the World Series’ completion at the end of this month. Anthopoulos and the Braves’ front office can either stand pat, as they did the previous offseason, or add a proven starter or two to bolster a rotation that needs solidifying ahead of opening day.