Braves Prospects weekly report: Hurston Waldrep shines after Triple-A promotion.
Waldrep struck out 11 in a busy week for pitching prospect news.
It has been a relatively tame year for the Atlanta Braves system, with the bats starting out slow at every level and major promotions fairly limited. Then they hit us with a flurry, promoting Spencer Schwellenbach for his major league debut and then promoting Hurston Waldrep to Triple-A. There could be more coming soon as well, as a handful of guys are getting close to earning promotion throughout the system.
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Gwinnett Stripers
Record: 27-30, 7th in IL West (13 GB)
The Stripers had a solid week up in Virginia, taking four of six from the Tides, but more to that point gained a huge boost in interest with the addition of Atlanta’s 2023 first round pick Hurston Waldrep. Waldrep had been dominant throughout May with Mississippi, and continued the same work with 11 strikeouts in his Gwinnett debut. While his final line was a bit disappointing – three earned runs and a loss across six innings – most of that was due to a first inning home run that wasn’t even particularly well hit. Waldrep settled in down the stretch and
will take the mantle as by far the most impressive prospect on the Stripers roster. One other interesting note from that game was the fate of Dylan Dodd, who slid into the bullpen behind Waldrep and pitched two innings. Dodd’s velocity saw a significant bump in that shorter role, averaging 95.3 mph and maxing out at 96.6. That certainly adds a bit of intrigue to his profile if this is a long term move for Dodd.
