{"id":618778,"date":"2026-03-11T16:50:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T16:50:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/618778\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T16:50:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T16:50:46","slug":"poll-who-will-be-the-braves-fifth-starter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/618778\/","title":{"rendered":"Poll: Who Will Be The Braves’ Fifth Starter?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Atlanta rotation has had a rough go of it this spring. Spencer Schwellenbach<\/a> and Hurston Waldrep<\/a> both hit the injured list before Spring Training games even began, and now they\u2019ve been followed by the loss of lefty Joey Wentz<\/a> to a season-ending ACL tear<\/a>. The timelines for Waldrep and Schwellenbach aren\u2019t yet clear, but they figure to miss significant time following surgeries to remove loose bodies from their elbows. (Schwellenbach is already on the 60-day IL.) That leaves the Braves with a lot of uncertainty in the rotation. Grant Holmes<\/a> and Reynaldo Lopez<\/a> are coming off injury-marred 2025 seasons, but they\u2019ll be relied on for mid-rotation innings behind Chris Sale<\/a> and Spencer Strider<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s still one rotation spot open. Wentz was in position to make a play for that spot and had a decent spring showing: two runs, three hits, four walks, one hit batter, six punchouts in 5 2\/3 innings (3.18 ERA). His injury opens the competition up to a larger group.<\/p>\n

The on-paper favorite is likely to be right-hander Bryce Elder<\/a>, who made 28 starts for the Braves last year. Elder is still just 27 years old and was an All-Star back in 2023 thanks to a big first half, but in his past starts he\u2019s posted a 5.63 ERA with a below-average 18.4% strikeout rate against an 8.3% walk rate. Metrics like SIERA (4.56) and FIP (4.76) have been a bit better kinder, but Elder is approaching 300 innings with an ERA north of 5.50 over the past two and a half calendar years.<\/p>\n

Elder\u2019s status as the presumptive favorite is more about incumbency, being on the 40-man roster and being out of minor league options. He hasn\u2019t made a strong case this spring, turning in a lackluster 6.48 ERA in three starts. That leaves the door wide open for someone else to grab the job.<\/p>\n

Left-hander Jos\u00e9 Suarez<\/a> is also out of minor league options and on the 40-man roster. He has an uneven big league track record but pitched well between 61 2\/3 minor league innings and 19 1\/3 major league frames for Atlanta last winter. He\u2019s allowed four runs in 6 2\/3 spring innings. Suarez gave the Angels 207 1\/3 innings of 3.86 ERA ball in 2021-22 before being tagged for a 6.91 ERA in 86 innings across a pair of injury-marred seasons in 2023-24.<\/p>\n

The most prominent non-roster veteran in camp is southpaw Mart\u00edn P\u00e9rez<\/a>. The lefty has allowed only one run in five spring innings and is coming off a season where he posted decent numbers (3.54 ERA, 4.24 FIP) in 56 innings for the White Sox. Flexor and shoulder injuries shortened his 2025 season, and the days of P\u00e9rez\u2019s blip of All-Star-caliber work with the Rangers (2.89 ERA, 3.9 fWAR in 2022) are likely behind him. Still, he has the potential to be an effective back-end starter.<\/p>\n

Those aren\u2019t the only options for the role. Veteran Carlos Carrasco<\/a> is in camp, but after posting a 9.88 ERA in three starts for Atlanta last season and allowing nine runs on 11 hits in 6 1\/3 spring innings this year, he seems unlikely to be the top choice. Didier Fuentes<\/a> made his MLB debut last year and has tossed four scoreless innings this spring, but he won\u2019t celebrate his 21st birthday until June and might be better served with more time in the minors. Top pitching prospect JR Ritchie<\/a> enjoyed a strong season at Triple-A last year and has looked good so far this spring (3.38 ERA in eight innings). He\u2019s not yet on the 40-man roster.<\/p>\n

Another possibility that can\u2019t be entirely ruled out is an external addition. Lucas Giolito<\/a> remains available and seems like an obvious fit \u2014 despite an apparent lack of interest on Atlanta\u2019s part thus far. Other veterans like Tyler Anderson<\/a> and Patrick Corbin<\/a> remain unsigned, too. Any of those pitchers could be added to the mix with the intent of them eventually taking over the fifth starter job, but the team would likely need to trade for a player that\u2019s already been pitching for another club in order to add someone who will immediately be ready to join the rotation at the start of the season. A free agent like Giolito would surely need to get work in at extended Spring Training at this point.<\/p>\n

How do MLBTR readers think the Braves will round out their rotation? Will they give the job to Elder and hope for better results than last year? Will they go with a young prospect like Fuentes or Ritchie, or perhaps a veteran like P\u00e9rez or Carrasco? Perhaps they\u2019ll eschew all those options for an external addition? Vote now in the poll below:<\/p>\n

\t\t\tWho will be the Braves’ fifth starter this year?<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tTotal votes: 291\n\t\t<\/p>\n

Thank you for voting!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Atlanta rotation has had a rough go of it this spring. Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep both…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,4720,79953,370,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-618778","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-bryce-elder","10":"tag-j-r-ritchie","11":"tag-martin-perez","12":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116211578431678851","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=618778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/618778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=618778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=618778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=618778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}