Braves Have Rotation Options Down the Stretch

It's officially crunch time for the Atlanta Braves.

Entering Sunday with just a half-game lead over the New York Mets for the third and final Wild Card spot in the National League, it will be hard for the Atlanta Braves to continue spacing out the starts for the core of their rotation.

The rotation of Chris Sale, Reynaldo López (currently on the IL), Max Fried, Charlie Morton and Spencer Schwellenbach are all having their starting schedule aggressively managed by the organization. The five pitchers have combined for just seven of their 92 starts on the standard four days rest, with youngster Schwellenbach not making a single one of his eleven starts on just the MLB customary four days.

Instead, Atlanta has made aggressive use of spot starters to build in extra rest days for their core rotation. But several of those options are either ineffective or unavailable, with Ray Kerr (Tommy John) on the injured list and Bryce Elder (2-5, 6.52 ERA) seemingly falling out of favor with the organization due to some recent poor performances. An All-Star in 2023 thanks to a 7-2 record and 2.97 first-half ERA, he struggled down the stretch, putting up a 5.11 ERA in the 2nd half last season. That much higher run-scoring pace has continued in 2024, with the sinkerballer allowing a 7.65 ERA in his last four starts while covering just 20 innings.

But thankfully, the Braves have some reinforcements coming off of injury in the minor leagues that we could see as soon as this week.

Ian Anderson's lined up for a start this week

2021 postseason hero Ian Anderson struggled in 2022 before being demoted to Triple-A Gwinnett and ultimately sidelined with Tommy John surgery. But the righthander's officially done with his rehab outings and has made two starts for the Stripers since being activated off of the IL. Results are mixed, with Anderson allowing five earned runs across his 11.2 innings, walking six against eight strikeouts, but he's built his pitch count up to 94, which he hit on Friday against the Memphis Redbirds in his first win since 2022.

While the team hasn't officially announced starters for the 2nd leg of their road trip, a four-game set against the San Francisco Giants that starts tomorrow afternoon, current pitching projections appear to have a vacancy on Wednesday. Anderson's last start being moved to last Friday for Gwinnett would allow him to be available to fly out to the West Coast and return to the active roster for the first time since August 13th of 2022.

While Anderson may not be back to peak form, the team has a glaring lack of success from the team's other fill-in options for spot starts. Atlanta's comms team provided a stat last week that outside of the foursome of Fried, Sale, Morton, and López, those other 34 starts have combined for a 6.11 ERA and the Braves are just 13-21 in those games.

But Anderson's not the only pitcher that could conceivably be used for a start down the stretch

AJ Smith-Shawver is back

One of those 34 starts, and arguably one of the best, came from top prospect AJ Smith-Shawver . Facing the Chicago Cubs on May 23rd, Smith-Shawver allowed just three hits in 4.1 scoreless innings, walking two and striking out four. He officially was removed because of his pitch count, which hit 87 across his 18 batters, but he was placed on the injured list with an oblique injury the very next morning and missed almost two months.

Smith-Shawver has officially been activated off of the IL after several rehab starts and has thrown three times for Gwinnett since then. The youngster is 0-1 with a 3.75 ERA, having failed to finish five innings but pushing his pitch count as high as 84 pitches. It's not the most efficient profile - he's walked five in those twelve innings - but he's also picked up eighteen strikeouts. Unlike several of the other spot starters, like Elder and Allan Winans, Smith-Shawver offers high-octane "stuff" that can miss plenty of bats.

Could Hurston Waldrep be an option?

One of those fill-in starters this season was last year's first-round pick, Hurston Waldrep . The righthander made two starts but struggled, finishing just seven innings combined with thirteen earned runs and eight walks. He was sent down to Triple-A Gwinnett after the second start, but that option was reversed and he was instead placed on the injured list with an elbow issue that held him out for over a month.

The splitter specialist has since returned from the IL and been optioned back to Gwinnett. His first start after his rehab outings was promising for the Stripers - four innings of one-run ball against Memphis last week. But it also showed why he may not be an option for Atlanta down the stretch unless it's in short bursts of relief.

Waldrep's four innings had him navigating plenty of traffic on the basepaths, with Memphis picking up six hits and walking three times. His pitch count also wasn't fully built up, either, with the righthander throwing just 76 pitches (47 for strikes).