Atlanta Braves Announce 4 Roster Moves Following World Series

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PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 04: The All-Star Game logo is covered up on the right sleeve of manager Brian Snitker #43 of the Atlanta Braves during a baseball game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park on April 4, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Atlanta was scheduled to be the host city of this year's All-Star Game, but MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced that due to Georgia's new voting laws, the league would be moving the game elsewhere. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)

Immediately following the conclusion of the 2026 World Series, the Atlanta Braves announced a handful of roster transactions.

The main moves involved all of the players who have become free agents, which include Raisel Iglesias, Ha-Seong Kim, Mauricio Dubon, and Tyler Mahle.

However, there’s another group of Braves players who were also worthy of a roster announcement. Those players are four starting pitchers (Spencer Schwellenbach, Spencer Strider, Joey Wentz, and Hurston Waldrep).

@Braves on social media wrote (on 10/29):

“The #Braves today exercised options for OF Ronald Acuña Jr. and INF Ozzie Albies for the 2027 season. Atlanta also reinstated RHPs Spencer Schwellenbach, Spencer Strider and Hurston Waldrep, as well as LHP Joey Wentz, from the 60-day injured list.”

It’s normal procedure for all of these ‘injured’ players to be reinstated off the IL. However, it doesn’t mean that the players are necessarily going to be healthy headed into the 2027 campaign.

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Quickly Looking at Schwellenbach, Strider, Waldrep, and Wentz

Starting with Spencer Schwellenbach, the very promising Braves pitcher did not log an inning in 2026 due to elbow issues.

Spencer Strider, who is inked to a pretty lucrative contract, logged ~ 40 IP in 2026, but missed the remainder of the campaign after an arm injury in June. He also wasn’t very effective during his time on a big-league mound in 2026. Strider was once one of the most dominant starters in MLB, but a slew of arm injuries have really derailed his career, and his future with the Braves may also be in jeopardy.

Joey Wentz, much like Schwellenbach, did not log an inning with the Braves in 2026. However, in 2025, he posted an ERA of 4.92 with Atlanta over 13 starts and 64 IP.

Lastly, Waldrep is a young, promising arm in the Braves system, and after a somewhat breakout campaign in 2025, Hurston Waldrep A. wasn’t entirely productive on the mound in ’26 and also spent August/September on the shelf with an injury.

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