The Braves get their most exciting rookie debut of the season in their highly touted first round pick from 2023
The Braves get their most exciting rookie debut of the season in their highly touted first round pick from 2023, Hurston Waldrep. Hurston is a Georgia native drafted out of the University of Florida in the first round, widely considered to be one of the best value picks in the first round, if not the whole draft. Waldrep was drafted with an elite splitter, a strong fastball, and two solid breaking balls, but major control questions, walking 5 batters per 9 innings at Florida. Atlanta had him pull back on his splitter usage to start 2024, after an impressive but flawed draft year. This usage adjustment and whatever work they were doing with his mechanics seemed to reign in his control issues, as he walked closer to 3 batters per 9 over 55.1 innings this year. Our minor league staff still seems concerned about his slider being ready for the show, but his splitter could be one of the best individual pitches in all of baseball. Hopefully the rest of his arsenal can be controlled and effective enough to let that splitter humiliate some batters on the way to a successful debut against the bad Nationals’ offense.
The Nationals similarly have a rookie starting whose best pitch is an offspeed (changeup in this case), although theirs is the lefty DJ Herz, making his second start. Herz is not a particularly highly-rated prospect, but the Nationals clearly like him enough to give him multiple major league starts. He has pretty underwhelming numbers overall in the minors, but has consistently had very impressive strikeout rates. His problem, however, has been walking over 5 batters per 9 innings fairly consistently in the minors, without much evidence of improvement. His changeup is rated quite highly by scouts, with a solid fastball to complement, but if Braves hitters come looking for walks, they should find success against Herz.
Game Info
Game Date/Time: Sunday, June 9, 1:35 p.m. ET
Location: Nationals Park, Washington D.C.
TV: Bally Sports Southeast
Streaming: MLB.tv
Radio: 680 AM / 93.7 FM The Fan
XM Radio: Ch. 178