A high school standout from Georgia, Waldrep began his college career at Southern Miss, pitching out of the bullpen as a freshman in 2021 before moving into the weekend rotation a year later. He had a huge year with the Golden Eagles, striking out 14 per nine and helping the team reach the Super Regionals. He entered the transfer portal and joined the University of Florida staff over the summer, when he also played for the U.S. Collegiate National Team alongside his new teammate Wyatt Langford. He’s shown the same huge stuff, albeit with more inconsistent results, as the Gators’ Saturday starter.
The right-hander has a legitimate three-pitch power mix, with all three offerings having the potential to be at least above-average. He was 95-99 mph in his looks this fall and that’s carried over this spring, though he’s struggled to command the heater at times. His best secondary offering is his split-change, a well-above-average pitch that misses an extraordinary amount of bats. His hard upper-80s slider also flashes plus and can be an out pitch.
While Waldrep is generally around the strike zone, there is a little effort in his up-tempo delivery, causing some inconsistencies with his command and control, which led to an uptick in his walk rate this spring. Those kinds of things can be ironed out, and his pure stuff still has him in early first-round conversations.
After two years of showing dominant stuff at Southern Miss, one as a reliever and one in the weekend rotation, Waldrep entered the transfer portal and moved to the University of Florida for his junior year. The Team USA alum served as the Gators’ Saturday starter and continued to show off an impressive power repertoire, with uneven results. He showed enough for the Braves to take him with their first-round pick, then watched him race up the organizational ladder, touching all four full-season stops and finishing at Triple-A.
There is no question about Waldrep’s stuff playing against good competition. He left college with a career 13.5 K/9 rate, then struck out 12.6 per nine during his pro debut last summer. His bread-and-butter is an absolutely unhittable splitter, an upper-80s pitch that generated a miss rate north of 60 percent both at Florida and at the upper levels of the Braves system. He doesn’t always command his fastball well, but it has plenty of velocity, up to 99 mph consistently. He also has a hard upper-80s slider that is plus at times and misses a lot of bats as well.
Waldrep has used an up-tempo delivery with some effort in the past, something he’ll have to keep working on so he can land his premium stuff in the zone more consistently. There’s a little reliever risk here, but if he can iron things out, his frontline starter stuff could play in a big league rotation soon. Even if it doesn’t quite click, his stuff in shorter stints could be downright nasty in high-leverage bullpen situations.
A high school standout from Georgia, Waldrep began his college career at Southern Miss, pitching out of the bullpen as a freshman in 2021 before moving into the weekend rotation a year later. He had a huge year with the Golden Eagles, striking out 14 per nine and helping the team reach the Super Regionals. He entered the transfer portal and joined the University of Florida staff over the summer, when he also played for the U.S. Collegiate National Team alongside new teammate Wyatt Langford. He’s shown the same huge stuff, albeit with more inconsistent results, as the Gators’ Saturday starter and the Braves gambled on that stuff, taking him No. 24 overall and signing him for a slightly below-slot bonus of $3 million.
The right-hander has a legitimate three-pitch power mix, with all three offerings having the potential to be at least above-average. He was 95-99 mph in his looks this fall and that’s carried over this spring, though he’s struggled to command the heater at times. His best secondary offering is his split-change, a well-above-average pitch that misses an extraordinary amount of bats. His hard upper-80s slider also flashes plus and can be an out pitch.
While Waldrep is generally around the strike zone, there is a little effort in his up-tempo delivery. That has caused some inconsistencies with his command and control, which led to an uptick in his walk rate this spring. Those kinds of things can be ironed out, and his pure stuff gives him the chance to develop into a frontline starter.
How this works: Every pitch is affected by the forces of gravity,
which means that every pitch drops on its way from the mound to the plate.
These numbers are reported with gravity, which makes them larger and
different than other pitch movement numbers you may have seen. Since gravity
requires time, and slower pitches aren’t ‘better’ just because they have
more time to move, the movement of a pitch is compared to ‘average’ movement
by comparing it to other MLB pitch types within +/- 2 MPH and from within
+/- 0.5 feet of extension and release.
Note: xHR tells how many of this pitcher's home runs allowed would have been out of other stadiums. The "Adjusted" view here accounts for different wall heights, distances and environmental effects using Statcast Park Factor data.
Standard
Year
Team
Avg HR Trot
Actual HR
xHR
HR-xHR
Doubters
Mostly Gone
No Doubters
No Doubter %
2024
25.5
3
3.0
0
1
1
2
66.7
Player
25.5
3
3.0
0
1
1
2
66.7
Note: xHR tells how many of this pitcher's home runs allowed would have been out of other stadiums. The "Standard" view here accounts for different wall heights and distances but excludes environmental effects. It is based purely on the observed trajectory of the hit.
Note: xHR tells how many of this pitcher's home runs allowed would have been out of other stadiums. The "Adjusted" view here accounts for different wall heights, distances and environmental effects using Statcast Park Factor data.
Standard
Year
HR
2024
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
3
3
3
Player
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
4
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
2
3
3
3
Note: xHR tells how many of this pitcher's home runs allowed would have been out of other stadiums. The "Standard" view here accounts for different wall heights and distances but excludes environmental effects. It is based purely on the observed trajectory of the hit.
! Note: Shifts are through the 2022 season, Shaded starting from the 2023 season, Shift:
three or more infielders are on the same side of second base, Shade: positioned outside of
their typical responsible slices of the field. Learn more about
how positioning is defined here