Braves Spencer Schwellenbach Dominates Yankees Once Again

The New York Yankees have yet to figure out the Atlanta Braves righty in Spring Training as he had his strongest outing to date

Harrison Smajovits | Mar 19, 2025

The sophomore righty once against shutdown the Yankees / Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images

In this story:

Atlanta Braves

Atlanta Braves Spencer Schwellenbach took the mound in Tampa against the New York Yankees and was electric. He pitched six scoreless innings and allowed two hits and a walk while striking out 10.

Nine of those punchouts came via the strikeout with his breaking pitches fooling Yankees bats into hacking way below the bottom of the strike zone.

Spencer Schwellenbach racks up 10 Ks for the @Braves 🔥

Think he's ready for the regular season? pic.twitter.com/XI2F6jRgvs
— MLB (@MLB) March 20, 2025

A highlight among that was that he kept reigning American League MVP Aaron Judge hitless in two at-bats, striking him out in one of them.

Schwellenbach is now stretched out to 78 pitches. Of those, 57 were thrown for strikes (73%). This scoreless outing is also his fourth of Spring Training and his second against the Yankees.

His ERA for the spring through is back down to 2.41 along with a 0.86 WHIP and 26 strikeouts in 18 2/3 innings. He’s looking to build upon his surprise rookie season, and so far, he’s putting together a nice build to the upcoming follow-up campaign.

Schwellenbach was called up from Double-A Mississippi at the end of May when the Braves were desperate for rotation help. After taking a few starts to find his groove in the Majors Leagues, he established himself as a mainstay in the rotation.

In 21 starts in 2024, Schwellenbach had a 3.35 ERA, a 1.04 WHIP and 127 strikeouts in 123 2/3 innings. In his final 15 starts, he had a 2.54 ERA and 0.92 WHIP.

His season WHIP was third among all qualified rookies, his ERA and opponent’s average (.226) were both fifth.

Schwellenbach also flashed the glove along with his arm. He finished last season with a 5 defensive runs saved, according to FanGraphs. That was one better than reigning National League pitching Gold Glove winner and rotation teammate Chris Sale.