After heavy speculation early this season, the Atlanta Braves will promote their highly touted pitching prospect, JR Ritchie, to make his big league debut in Thursday’s game against the Washington Nationals. Harrison Smajovits of Sports Illustrated was the first to report the news. Mark Bowman of MLB.com further reports that the Braves are selecting veteran right-hander Carlos Carrasco to the major league roster. He will be available in long relief behind Ritchie, who will start against the Nats.
Reports: Braves to Promote JR Ritchie for Big League Debut, Carlos Carrasco for Relief
There has been a flurry of roster activity by Atlanta over the course of the current series. Didier Fuentes was called up to start Wednesday’s game and will be sent back down to Triple-A Gwinnett to make room for Ritchie. The Braves are also placing left-hander Dylan Dodd on the 15-day injured list with a strained oblique.
The Braves are calling up their No. 2 prospect JR Ritchie to start on Thursday against the Nationals.
He ranks No. 71 on our Top 100.
More details here: https://t.co/QsQTVGfT1F pic.twitter.com/HX5GaKULTQ
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) April 23, 2026
Ritchie ranks as the Braves’ No. 2 overall prospect and No. 71 across the league in Baseball America’s rankings. Meanwhile, MLB Pipeline has him ranked No. 83 in baseball. In five starts with the Stripers this season, the 22-year-old right-hander has a record of 3-1 with a 0.99 ERA, a 1.024 WHIP, and 28 strikeouts in 27 1/3 innings. A first-round pick (35th overall) by the Braves in the 2022 MLB Draft, Ritchie has a combined ERA of 2.61 across five minor league levels.
Carrasco has been with the Braves organization since the middle of last season, when they acquired him from the New York Yankees for cash considerations. A 16-year major league veteran, the 39-year-old has pitched for four different teams in the bigs. He was with the Cleveland Indians from 2009 to 2020, the New York Mets from 2021 to 2023, and returned to Cleveland in 2024, by which point they were the Guardians. Mostly a starter but also known as an occasional reliever, Carrasco has a career record of 112-105 with a 4.22 ERA and 1,696 strikeouts. He finished fourth in American League Cy Young Award voting with Cleveland in 2017, going 18-6 with a 3.29 ERA.
The Braves have won two of the first three against the Nationals ahead of Thursday’s finale. They sit atop the NL East with a 17-8 record.
Main Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
