The Atlanta Braves had a rough season, in part due to injuries to key players. According to Spotrac, we’re talking 17 players, paid approximately $47 million, missing in action across 1,169 combined days of play. (Amazingly, the dollar total is somehow only the eighth-highest in MLB). Since injuries were tilted to the pitching end, we saw quite a few pitchers play for the Braves that were not part of the plan on Opening Day, many of whom also had limited MLB experience.
This $47MM ranked as the eighth highest in MLB. The Braves’ injury total leaned more on the pitcher side of things, so we saw quite a few pitchers play for the Braves that were not part of the initial plans and did not have a large sample size of playing time for the MLB squad. Hunter Stratton was one of these arms.
Hunter Stratton was a late bloomer. Draft in the 16th round in 2017, he spent seemingly forever in the minors, including parts of three different seasons at Triple-A, before finally making his debut with the Pirates in 2023.
He made 44 relief appearances for the Pirates from 2023-2024, but after a couple of rough outings in the majors and nothing hyper-exciting in yet another stint in Triple-A, they cut bait and DFAed him on June 26. The Braves scooped him up on July 1 in exchange for minor league outfielder Titus Dumitru and cash.
What were the expectations?
It is safe to say that the expectations for Stratton were low from the start given that the Braves gave up next to nothing to gain his services. That said, Stratton’s major league track record was pretty decent. Coming into 2025, he had 49 2/3 innings of major league relief work under his belt, with a 77 ERA-, 87 FIP-, and 96 xFIP-. His 0.7 fWAR in 2024 made him the Pirates’ third-best reliever by that mark, despite him spending a good chunk of the season on the shelf. On the other hand, his work in the minors was not super-inspiring. So, price aside, Stratton seemed like a generic reliever type who could be plugged and do decent reliever-type things. If he pitched like his 2024 self in terms of not getting stung by homers, the Braves could’ve secured a bargain.
The Braves did not, in fact, secure a bargain. Stratton was recalled to the Braves five different times over the course of the season, and pitched 16 1/3 innings across 12 appearances for the big league club. He had a 52/103/110 line as his walk rate ticked up. Combine that with two pretty horrid outings for the Pirates earlier in the year, and he finished with -0.1 fWAR and a 122/124/128 line — you can tell just how bad those first two outings were given that it moved his seasonal line incredibly far from where it was with the Braves in far more innings.
He also pitched okay in Triple-A, but given that it was literally his fifth season participating at that level, that’s not really a good thing in and of itself.
Stratton pitched okay for the Braves, and he got hilariously fortunate with an ERA about 50 percent better than league average compared to a slightly-worse-than-league-average FIP. From July 25 to August 27, he had a run of four consecutive big-league outings where he didn’t allow a run, despite an aggregate 6/2 K/BB ratio in 8 1/3 innings.
He also played a big role in one game down the stretch, a 9-4 win over the Nationals on September 17. With a one-run lead, he relieved Dylan Dodd with the tying and go-ahead runs on base, got Dylan Crews to hit into a tag play out at home on the first pitch he threw, and then struck out Riley Adams to end the inning.
It can be assumed that Stratton would say the same thing as to what will be said here. What went wrong was his time with the Pirates, which caught him a DFA despite how good he was for them in 2024. That said, it’s not like he was immune from problems with the Braves. On September 20, he was again asked to protect a one-run lead, and gave up a game-tying homer to Zach McKinstry on the third pitch he threw. Oops.
Hunter Stratton is still in the pre-arbitration phase of his career. The Braves have full control of him, if they want to keep him on the 40-man roster. If they do, they will only need to pay him the league minimum. He also has two minor league options remaining. It seems also a sure bet that he will remain with the Braves. The Braves chose not to exercise the options of Pierce Johnson and Tyler Kinley, leaving some room for Stratton to chip in as right-handed relief at some point.
Stratton doesn’t project quite as poorly as replacement-level, but isn’t necessarily expected to do much better. He’s probably a decent seventh or eighth guy in a bullpen. The shape on all his pitches is pretty good, but like many guys who can say that about their arsenals, his command is atrocious, and the nature of his delivery and arm action make his misses largely in the zone. On the one hand, it limits his walk rate and gives him an okay floor; on the other hand, it prevents whiffs and makes it fairly easy to tee off on him when he misses his spot. This profile worked okay for him in 2024 (largely due to a low HR/FB), but he’ll need to tighten up his command to get a more permanent bullpen role.
