{"id":638627,"date":"2026-03-23T08:36:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T08:36:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/638627\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T08:36:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T08:36:32","slug":"braves-to-include-didier-fuentes-on-opening-day-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/638627\/","title":{"rendered":"Braves To Include Didier Fuentes On Opening Day Roster"},"content":{"rendered":"

TODAY: The Braves are planning to send Fuentes down to Triple-A in a couple of weeks to stretch him back out as a starter, MLB.com\u2019s Mark Bowman<\/a> writes.\u00a0 It seems like Fuentes\u2019 long relief role will last only through Atlanta\u2019s season-opening 13-game stretch.<\/p>\n

MARCH 21: Right-hander Didier Fuentes<\/a> has won himself a spot on the Braves\u2019 Opening Day roster, ESPN\u2019s Jeff Passan<\/a> writes.\u00a0 The 20-year-old Fuentes made his big league debut last season with four starts and 13 innings for Atlanta, and he\u2019ll now return to the Show in what Passan says will be a relief role.<\/p>\n

Fuentes\u2019 bullpen assignment provides some more clarity to the Braves\u2019 rotation picture.\u00a0 Chris Sale<\/a>, Reynaldo Lopez<\/a>, Spencer Strider<\/a>, and Grant Holmes<\/a> have the top four positions, and Bryce Elder<\/a> and Jose Suarez<\/a> now appear to be the last two candidates for the fifth starter role.\u00a0 Fuentes is headed to the bullpen, top prospect JR Ritchie<\/a> was assigned to the minor league camp yesterday, and minor league signing Martin Perez<\/a> will remain in the organization but isn\u2019t being included on the Opening Day roster.<\/p>\n

With Spencer Schwellenbach<\/a>, Hurston Waldrep<\/a>, and Joey Wentz<\/a> all felled by injuries, rotation depth has been one of the primary storylines of Atlanta\u2019s spring.\u00a0 This opened the door for multiple pitchers to try and win a job, and while Fuentes isn\u2019t being ticketed for rotation duty, he certainly caught the Braves\u2019 attention with an incredible Grapefruit League performance.\u00a0 Over three appearances and nine spotless innings, Fuentes didn\u2019t allow even one walk or a hit, while striking out 17 batters \u2014 one HBP was the only thing keeping Fuentes from an unofficial perfect game during his spring work.<\/p>\n

It is certainly possible Fuentes could receive a proper starting assignment, depending on how exactly the Braves choose to line up their rotation through a busy opening to the season.\u00a0 Atlanta doesn\u2019t receive its first off-day until April 9, so it is very likely that both Elder and Suarez (or Fuentes) could get starts if the Braves deploy a six-man rotation in the early going.\u00a0 Even if Fuentes may not start, his ability to eat multiple innings out of the pen should prove useful as the Braves navigate this stretch of 13 straight games.<\/p>\n

Fuentes has started 48 of his 52 career games in the minors, and his 2025 season saw the righty pitch at three different minor league levels as well as his four-start cup of coffee with the Braves.\u00a0 It may have been too much too soon for Fuentes since he was torched for an 13.85 ERA in his first exposure to MLB hitters, but the Braves had to dig into their depth chart after a swath of injuries wiped out their rotation last summer.<\/p>\n

Fuentes has shown a knack for recording strikeouts and limiting walks in the minors, and some bad batted-ball luck might be why his 3.73 ERA over 202 2\/3 minor league innings doesn\u2019t exactly stand out.\u00a0 Still, there\u2019s some obvious potential here even at Fuentes\u2019 young age, and his huge spring numbers indicate that Fuentes might thrive as a reliever.\u00a0 While the Braves\u2019 hand with Fuentes may have been forced by injuries last year, the team hasn\u2019t been shy about quickly promoting prospects they feel can provide immediate help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TODAY: The Braves are planning to send Fuentes down to Triple-A in a couple of weeks to stretch…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":638628,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,25196,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-638627","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-didier-fuentes","10":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116277581981931767","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638627","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=638627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/638628"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}