Braves Urged to Consider ‘Obvious’ Offseason Move with Spencer Schwellenbach

The Atlanta Braves could make a significant move with rookie starting pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach this offseason.

Atlanta Braves pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach / Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

The Atlanta Braves have signed seven players to contracts six years or longer over the past several seasons. But only one of them has been a starting pitcher.

That was Spencer Strider, who inked a six-year, $75 million contract in Oct. 2022. But this offseason, it's possible the Braves sign another starting pitcher to a big contract extension.

Yes, left-hander Max Fried is in play for a new deal in Atlanta. But Bleacher Report's Kerry Miller argued Monday that rookie Spencer Schwellenbach could be latest in line for a fresh deal this offseason.

"Atlanta's Spencer Schwellenbach an obvious candidate for an Alex Anthopoulos special following his strong rookie year," wrote Miller.

The "Alex Anthopoulos special" Miller is referring to is extending a player to avoid multiple years of arbitration. The Braves did that with Strider, Ozzie Albies, Ronald Acuña Jr., Austin Riley and Michael Harris II. They also signed Matt Olson and Sean Muphy to expensive deals at least six years in length after acquiring them through trades.

The Braves agreed to long-term deals with those players when they were 28 or younger. Albies, Acuña and Harris were all 21 years old when they signed their extensions.

At 24 years old, Schwellenbach is a little older. But he deserves a raise after he went 8-7 with a 3.35 ERA and 1.043 WHIP in 21 MLB starts during 2024. He also had 127 strikeouts with a 3.29 FIP across 123.2 innings.

Spotrac reported Schwellenbach will earn an estimated base salary of $800,000 in 2025. He is then under team control for two more seasons through 2027.

The Braves could elect to avoid any potential messy arbitration situation with Schwellenbach as they have with their other young stars recently and lock the right-hander into a long-term deal this offseason.

To do that, the Braves don't have to sign Schwellenbach to a six-year deal or longer. A contract in the 4-5 year range probably makes the most sense.

If Schwellenbach continues to progress as he did in 2024, a contract extension now could greatly benefit the Braves long term. In most recent cases, the Braves locked their young players in on team-friendly contracts.

An extension this offseason could be a win for Schwellenbach too because he would get a significant pay raise without having to reach free agency.