With Kolby Allard’s promotion to the Atlanta Braves, starting pitcher and #5 pick in the 2017 MLB draft Kyle Wright is being called up to AAA Gwinnett
While news and rumors spread in regards to the non-waivers trade deadline, the Atlanta Braves have quietly made a huge move within the organization:
Top pitching prospect Kyle Wright has not been traded. he is going to Triple A. there's been speculation due to him being scratched tonight. #braves
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) July 30, 2018
Wright, the 22 year old RH starting pitcher who has spent the entirety of 2018 at AA Mississippi, is widely considered to be a top 5 prospect in the Braves organization and a top 50 prospect in all of baseball.
Drafted in the 1st round of the 2017 draft out of Vanderbilt, Wright was largely successful in his professional debut season as he split time between the Bradenton club (Rookie Ball) and the Florida Fire Frogs (Advanced A Ball).
Upon being promoted to AA Mississippi at the start of the 2018 season, Wright has had mixed results. After starting the season with two (short) dominating performances, Wright struggled to keep his ERA below 4.00 with several outings where he gave up (4, 6, 5, 5, and 5 earned runs respectively).
More from Atlanta Braves
- Stock Up, Stock Down: Braves, Yankees, Cubs, Red Sox
- Atlanta Braves: The 4 players who are on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Breaking down the NL MVP race: Ronald Acuna Jr. vs. Freddie Freeman
- Atlanta Braves 3 reasons not to panic over August pitching struggles
- MLB trade deadline: Atlanta Braves coast as they await pitching help
It’s tough to judge a minor league starter on ERA alone, as pitch count limits can be much more restrictive than at the MLB level. Lower innings pitched tend to magnify those games where the pitcher isn’t at his best, thus resulting in higher ERAs. Regardless, since his June 8th appearance where he gave up 5 runs, Wright has not allowed more than 3 earned runs over the course of 7 starts which has lowered his 2018 ERA to 3.70. More importantly, he has shown the dominating stuff which propelled him into the top 5 of the 2017 draft. Wright recorded a season high 13 strikeouts in a recent June start.
We mentioned yesterday that Kolby Allard was expected to be called up for a start this week in Atlanta, and we can now confirm that this will indeed be the case. Allard is scheduled to make his major league debut in a start against Miami on Tuesday here in Atlanta.
Kolby Allard is lined up to make his MLB debut tomorrow. This allows the Braves to start another lefty against the Marlins. Also will help create an additional day of rest for each SPs as the Braves are in a stretch of playing on 31 of 32 days
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) July 30, 2018
The promotion of Wright is intended to replace the vacancy left by Allard, and the rotation will now feature former Mississippi teammates and Braves top prospects Touki Toussaint and Wright.
If all goes well, both may eventually get the call-up to the Atlanta Braves as well in 2018. This, of course, is dependent on whether GM Alex Anthopoulos makes a move in July or August to bolster the starting rotation.