From this year’s prospect writeup:
“JR Ritchie, RHP, 23, AAA, 2026
The 2nd year removed from Tommy John was kind to Richie as he regained the velocity missing last year, averaging nearly 94 in 2025. The fastball is actually the least used part of an incredibly balanced 6 pitch repertoire all of which now grade out as average or better. Ritchie is a bit undersized and has a lot of exertion in his motion which has long led many scouts to assume that he would be a reliever long term but current consensus sees a #3 here with room for more if either the control improves or he finds another gear on the heater. Guys with this profile usually need a transition season in the majors to figure out how their arsenal works at the highest level so don’t expect instant impact from him this year.”
He left the first one middle-middle and James Wood did what he has done all series by depositing it in the rightfield seats. After that blip Ritchie avoided the middle and got his first strikeout on a nasty change. He then started the second frame like a seasoned vet with a get it over slider followed by 2 inside pitches that rewarded him with an easy groundball. He would give up a couple singles on pretty good pitches but MLB hitters will do that. A troubling trend so far is that he hasn’t used the top of the zone at all. We will monitor this going forward!
He started out the 3rd with a perfect high and inside 4 seam and got rewarded with a lazy fly. More of this please! Something I didn’t mention in the write up was that the heater is really his worst pitch by metrics but has excellent results due to its relative rarity . No sign of the cutter yet which is strange as it is his second best pitch.
The 4th inning sees another homer, this time on a pretty good pitch. He will learn that middle placement is still dangerous up here. Move it 2-3 inches either way and he’s gold. The cutter has made its appearance. It looks good! Lile then singles on another ball that is well placed down but too central. This is the type of adjustment that usually takes time.
5th inning with Wood was near perfect in that every pitch was within an inch of the black. Keeping it on the edge is far more important up here than keeping it down. Six K’s and no walks through 5 on 60 pitches.
He walked the first guy in the 6th on 4 pitches that missed the zone by a combined 6 inches. That is good enough most of the time. Only 1 4-seam in 17 pitches. He will need to throw a few more than that going forward, especially the second time he faces a team.
Final line: 7 innings, 7 k’s, 2 bb, 6-4 gb/fb, 60% strikes. More of this please 🙂
Thank you snowshine.
Yes, thanks, Snowshine! Love your insights on these prospects.
OK, two questions.
1) Is Ritchie better than Fuentes?
2) Wouldn’t Taijuan Walker be better than Carlos Carrasco?
I hope Ritchie gets to stay…..
I would say they are both good prospects although they excel in different ways. Fuentes needs to work on a consistent off speed pitch and should do so in Gwinnett. His fastball gives him the higher ceiling of the two. Ritchie has a better mix and is far advanced as a pitcher. Put a gun to my head and I will say Ritchie has more career WAR while Didier has the higher peak
As to Ritchie vs Fuentes, they will be both be very good MLB pitchers in the long run; I’d rather not choose. ¿Por qué no los dos?
In the short run, I bet both will get a significant number of starts with the big club this season. But with Strider coming back, and because they both have options, I suspect JR will get sent down just like Didi did yesterday. They will both make regular starts at AAA until one or both is needed again.
But I’m probably wrong. JR was so good today, they may decide to leave him in the rotation going forward. But if so, who is left out when Strider returns in another week to ten days?
The slightly cynical answer is, if they want to keep Ritchie, then they’ll DL another pitcher (Holmes, Lopez?). You also figure AA has to pick-up another optionable reliever, as the bullpen in its current composition is unmanagable over 162 games.
Hope the Harris injury is minor, as he’s been on a tear lately. Fatherhood really suits him.
They don’t listen to me (thank goodness sometimes) but what I’d do is move Holmes to the bullpen and get rid of Carrasco and J. Suarez, Perez, or Payamps when Strider and Iglesias come back. The staff would be SP = Sale/Strider/Ritchie/Lopez/Elder and RP = R. Suarez/Iglesias/Lee/Kinley/Bummer/Holmes and two of J. Suarez/Perez/Payamps. Holmes could be a RH swingman and Perez or J. Suarez a LH swingman. One of those could go out when Dodd comes back….. I’m guessing both Payamps and Perez might end up at Gwinnett (Perez did before and no one will want to pay Payamps).
There are SO many better choices than Carrasco.
Of course, any injuries or IL placements would change the calculus.
Fuentes deserves to be here and may work best as relief (like Fried) and there are other prospects that deserve a chance like Burkhalter and Karinchak and Harris (and more going forward). Carrasco and Perez (and Iglesias this year) are placeholders for the future.
Martin Perez seems like a LH Josh Tomlin to me.
Strider has options, too.
Not a lefty, but the kid reminded me of Max Fried a bit.
Aggressive strike-thrower, lots of pitches; I can see it.
Nice appreciation of how well we’ve done here: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7219869/2026/04/24/braves-timeguessr-eric-hosmer-phil-collins/
I don’t pay for that rag anymore unfortunately. What are the highlights?
The nut graf, as we say in the newspaper biz: “Everyone works within the resources they have — and we have plenty, we have more than enough,” Alex Anthopoulos, the Braves’ general manager, said this week. “But no matter what, no matter who you are, it’s never a bottomless pit, right? You always have to plan. Our pie is top-10, but there’s still only so much pie to go around. So the question is, how do you spread that out?”
Essentially that the Braves are succeeding w/ a deeper roster & a salary structure that’s more balanced/less top-heavy w/o big-ticket stars like those of their currently flailing division rivals (Soto, Harper, Lindor, Schwarber, Wheeler, etc.).
AA quote: “The one thing about baseball, as we all know, is it’s not the NBA where you have one guy that’s playing 40 minutes a night that basically can turn your franchise around. You can have a Cy Young-caliber arm and an MVP bat, but if the other 24 guys aren’t up to par, it doesn’t matter. So, you know you need depth. You need a lot of bodies.”
Yep, at 26 games into the ’26 season, that seems to be the case. (FWIW, I’d be shocked if the Phils are anywhere near this bad all season; so far, this very expensive Mets team seems different, and not in a good way.)
BTW, w/ a NY Times sub, The Athletic is free.
Heh. We chose different quotes, but the effect is the same.
The Athletic let me subscribe for only $1 per month when I threatened to cancel. It’s worth that much.
They’ve finally hired a Braves beat writer to replace Dave O’Brien, a young guy named Jesus Cano.
finally!!
Eli White in CF tonight.
Recapped