Braves Option Impressive Pitching Prospect to AAA

The Atlanta Braves have narrowed down their players in camp, providing some clarity on the 5th starter's battle

The Atlanta Braves are making more roster moves at the halfway point in spring training. 

Just days after sending down fellow top prospect Hurston Waldrep to AAA Gwinnett, the Braves have done the same with right-handed pitcher AJ Smith-Shawver. 

Smith-Shawver started on Sunday against the New York Yankees, his third start of spring, and flashed improved "stuff" in two strikeouts of former American League MVP Aaron Judge. 

Smith-Shawver's shown significant offseason development in his spring appearances, focusing on throwing his changeup, a 4th offering, with good results on the pitch. 

“The changeup has been really important for me this spring,” Smith-Shawver told MLB.com. “I’m getting more comfortable with that each outing. I feel like the game is slowing down for me a little bit in those [big] situations.”

In Grapefruit League action, Smith-Shawver has struck out eleven while walking only three, a sign of improved command and control that was occasionally lacking last season. 

And the process - how the pitches move & how well he's hitting his locations - has been the more important to him than perhaps just his ERA. “I’m not trying to let people score, but thinking about competing and making pitches more than results. You want to make the team and be on the roster, but it's still early and I need to develop and get better.”

Smith-Shawver's youth and inexperience has always been the knock against him - a 2021 7th rounder, he wasn't a pitcher until late in high school and as a dual-sport athlete, never focused solely on baseball until being drafted by Atlanta. 

But after a season spent in Single-A Augusta, Smith-Shawver rapidly shot through the minor league system, beginning the 2023 season in High-A Rome and making the majors by June, coming back up to be on the roster late in the season and then making the NLDS roster for Atlanta. 

To do what he did despite his relative inexperience has impressed Braves officials. “It was exciting to get him over here (in major league camp) because he’s been throwing the ball really well,” manager Brian Snitker said. “He’s cleaned up his delivery. His stuff has been good all spring. He’s matured. He’s getting better with innings. The more we get him out there, the better he’s going to get, because the kid’s ceiling is really, really good. All he needs is experience and innings.”

And he'll get them, in AAA Gwinnett, but he's only 35 miles away if Atlanta needs him to make a start, a fact that is comforting to his manager. 

“We’ll use him,” Snitker said. “It’s nice to have guys like that available to be able to do it.”

Camp Gets Smaller

Included in today's roster move was reassigning C Sebastian Rivero to minor league camp, leaving only 39 players in major-league camp.