Okay, so we’ve got to talk about Didier Fuentes. I think everybody here knows by now that spring training results should usually be taken with a grain of salt. The level of competition can vary from “everyday big league starter” to “ Guy who is really hoping to make it to Double-A this season” and then you also don’t know if the other player is working on something specific instead of going full tilt, themselves, so it’s not like there’s anything concrete that can be gleaned from spring training game results.
With that being said, holy smokes — Didier Fuentes has been on a tear. The Atlanta Braves are clearly very high on the guy as in their desperation during last season’s pitching injury debacle, he got the call-up to the bigs during his Age-20 start and made four starts during that span. Granted, they were four starts that ranged from “okay” to “disastrous” which showed that he clearly wasn’t ready for the big leagues at that point in time.
So now, his excellent performance during spring training (as noticed by Matt Powers in an article from earlier today) begs the question: Is he ready now? On its face, the answer to that question is still “No” but we’re officially in the territory of that answer being “Probably not” rather than “Absolutely not!” A lot of that has to do with the fact that Fuentes has reportedly taken leaps and bounds in development since the 2025 season ended. MLB.com Braves beat writer Mark Bowman talked with Braves pitching coach Jeremy Hefner last week about Fuentes and he did mention that while Fuentes is still a work in progress, things are starting to come together:
“He has three above-average pitches,” Braves pitching coach Jeremy Hefner said. “The changeup is still coming in terms of location, but the shape is really good. He’s taken to this harder slider, and the fastball is real, obviously.”
The fastball is most certainly real — last season during his brief stint in the bigs, Fuentes averaged 96-mph with his four-seamer. That’s still above average for righties but not particularly eye-popping or anything like that. However, he’s been sitting at 97 here in spring training and as that linked article above mentioned, he reached 99 on the gun while striking out Yankees OF Cody Bellinger. Part of that may have been that Fuentes was amped up to be facing one of his favorite childhood teams in the Yankees and one of his favorite childhood players in Cody Bellinger but then you fast forward to Wednesday’s action and Fuentes was still sitting in the 97-mph range against Philadelphia’s organizational depth.
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Still, even if the guys that Fuentes was facing at CoolToday Park weren’t exactly the formidable nine that you’ll expect to face on a typical night at Citizens Bank Park, it’s still impressive to look at his stuff on display. Plus, he did get to face guys like Bellinger, Trent Grisham, Randal Grichuk and Ryan McMahon during his start against the Yankees so he did show that he could get it doe against guys who have done it before in the bigs. That’s what makes it a bit impressive that Fuentes’ line so far in spring training has been 9 IP, 0 hits, 0 walks, 1 hit-by-pitch, 17 strikeouts. Yes, you read that correctly: Fuentes has essentially pitched a complete no-hitter so far during spring training and has been dominant while doing so. Sheesh!
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Like I mentioned earlier, a strong performance like this doesn’t guarantee that Fuentes will be breaking camp as part of the Opening Day rotation for the Braves. I’d imagine that the organization still wants him to get some seasoning in the minors before eventually calling him up for some more big league action. While I’m still very skeptical that he’ll make the Opening Day roster, I’m pretty certain that we’ll be seeing Fuentes again at some point down the road if needed in a spot start situation. I also have more faith now than last season that Fuentes would be able to pitch his way into sticking around.
So as far as right now is concerned, the minors better get ready to deal with this guy since he looks like he’s going to mow down hitters at that level here in 2026. Whether that’ll translate into big league success this year remains to be seen. Still, if you’re excited about seeing Didier Fuentes pitch soon, you’ve got very good reason to feel that way since he’s absolutely giving us fans a glimpse of what the future may hold for him as a starter for this Braves ballclub.
