The Braves announced Wednesday morning that they have recalled the right-hander Didier Fuentes from Triple-A Gwinnett. Friend is right Ian Hamilton designed for allocation to make room in the active list. Fuentes will start tonight’s game against the Nationals.
Hamilton’s contract was just selected from the major league roster last week. He made just one appearance against Atlanta and was tagged for three runs in an inning of work. He will now be traded or sidelined within the next five days.
With his latest appearance, the 30-year-old Hamilton has now logged 151 1/3 major league innings between the White Sox, Twins, Yankees and Braves. He worked to a solid 3.75 ERA overall, though a terrible 2023 season (2.64 ERA, 58 innings) unfairly touches that long career mark; Hamilton had a 4.91 ERA in 14 2/3 innings prior to that season and has a 4.35 earned run average in 78 2/3 frames since then.
Hamilton has struck out just over a quarter of his major league opponents (25.4%) but also has a walk rate of 11.3% which is nearly three percentage points north of the league average. He showed a lower than average tendency (45.9%) and did a good job of avoiding homers and difficult contact in general. The right-hander is sitting at 96 mph with his heater for the 2024-25 Yankees but averaged 94.4 mph in his one appearance for the Braves. His sinker speed dipped as well. Hamilton’s main pitch is a slider that he throws at about a 50% clip.
Fuentes, 10 years younger than Hamilton, won’t turn 21 until mid-June. Apart from that youth, he auditioned for a role in the Atlanta rotation. The right-hander struggled in the first four cups of coffee last summer but had a big spring showing and has been very good at Gwinnett so far. Through his first 16 2/3 frames, Fuentes is sporting a clean 2.16 ERA with a 31.7% strikeout rate and a 9.5% walk rate. He made an extended appearance in relief for the Braves earlier this season before being demoted and excelled there as well, holding the Royals to a run on two hits and four walks with four strikeouts in four innings.
Atlanta’s injuries have been reported for a long time. Spencer Schwellenbach again Hurston Waldrep they had surgery to remove loose bodies from their elbows before the season started. Joey Wentz he tore his ACL during spring training. Spencer Strider he opened the season on the injured list due to an oblique strain and is yet to return.
The Braves stayed with the team Chris Sale, Reynaldo López, Grant Holmes, Bryce Elder again Martín Pérez bearing the burden of rotation so far. To call Elder (1.50 ERA in 30 innings) and Pérez (2.21 ERA, 20 1/3 innings) “pleasant surprises” so far would be an understatement. Pérez has pitched as the fifth starter when healthy for most of the past five seasons. The senior was one of the most ineffective pitchers in baseball in 2024-25.
It is unreasonable to expect Elder or Pérez to support this level of production, but there is no taking away from what is already in the books; these incredibly timed hot streaks have helped the Braves weather an early injury storm that has threatened to dig them into a deep hole for the second straight season. Instead, Atlanta has an NL-best 2.98 ERA since the rotation and sits at 16-8 with a five-game cushion in the disappointing NL East division. With Strider on a minor league rehab assignment, Fuentes is now a top, top prospect. JR Ritchie doing well and injured arms like Schwellenbach, Waldrep and AJ Smith-Shawver (Tommy John surgery last year) all continue through their rehab windows, Atlanta could be on track to avoid those early health hurdles with a division lead, which would set the Braves up incredibly well for the rest of the season.
