The Atlanta Braves had a tough season, partly due to injuries to key players. According to SpotterWe’re talking about 17 players paid approximately $47 million and missing from action for 1,169 combined days of play. (Amazingly, the dollar total is somehow only the eighth highest in MLB). With injuries moving to the pitching side, we saw quite a few pitchers play for the Braves on Opening Day who weren’t part of the plan, many of whom also had limited MLB experience.
This $47 million was the eighth highest in the MLB. The Braves’ injury total was more on the pitching side, so we saw quite a few pitchers play for the Braves who were not part of the original plans and did not have a large amount of playing time for the MLB squad. Hunter Stratton was one of these arms.
Hunter Stratton was a late bloomer. Drafted in the 16th round in 2017, he spent seemingly forever in the minors, including parts of three different seasons at Triple-A, before finally making his debut with the Pirates in 2023.
He made 44 relief appearances for the Pirates between 2023 and 2024, but after a few rough games in the Majors and nothing exciting in yet another stint in Triple-A, they cut the bait and DFA signed him on June 26. The Braves picked him up on July 1 in exchange for minor league outfielder Titus Dumitru and cash.
What were the expectations?
It’s safe to say expectations for Stratton were low from the start, as the Braves gave up virtually nothing to acquire his services. That said, Stratton’s Major League track record has been pretty decent. In 2025, he had 49 2/3 innings of Major League relief work to his credit, with a 77 ERA, 87 FIP and 96 xFIP. His 0.7 fWAR in 2024 made him the Pirates’ third-best reliever at the time, despite spending much of the season on the shelf. On the other hand, his work in the minors wasn’t super inspiring. So price aside, Stratton seemed like a generic reliever type that could plug in and do decent reliever type things. If he pitched like he was in 2024 and didn’t get stung by homers, the Braves could have pulled off a steal.
In fact, the Braves didn’t make a bargain. Stratton was recalled to the Braves five different times over the course of the season and pitched 16 1/3 innings across 12 games for the big league club. He had a line of 52/103/110 while his running speed increased. Combine that with two pretty awful outings for the Pirates earlier this year, and he finished with -0.1 fWAR and a 122/124/128 line – you can see how bad those first two outings were considering that it moved his season line incredibly far from where it was with the Braves in many more innings.
He also pitched well in Triple-A, but considering it was literally his fifth season competing at that level, that in itself isn’t really a good thing.
Stratton pitched well for the Braves, and he was hilariously lucky with an ERA that was about 50 percent better than league average, compared to a slightly worse than league average FIP. From July 25 to August 27, he had a run of four straight big league games without allowing a run despite posting an overall 6/2 K/BB ratio in 8 1/3 innings.
He also played a big role in one game down the stretch, a 9-4 win over the Nationals on September 17. With a one-run lead, he replaced Dylan Dodd with the tying run and the go-ahead run on base, got Dylan Crews to hit at home in a tag playout on the first pitch he threw, and then retired Riley Adams to end the inning.
It can be assumed that Stratton would say the same thing that will be said here. What went wrong was his time with the Pirates, which earned him a DFA despite how good he was for them in 2024. That said, it’s not like he was immune to issues with the Braves. On September 20, he was again asked to protect a one-run lead, and he gave up a game-tying home run to Zach McKinstry on the third pitch he threw. Oops.
Hunter Stratton is still in the pre-arbitration phase of his career. The Braves have complete control over him if they want to keep him on the 40-man roster. If they do, they’ll only have to pay him the league minimum. He also has two minor league options remaining. It also seems certain that he will remain with the Braves. The Braves opted not to exercise the options of Pierce Johnson and Tyler Kinley, leaving some room for Stratton to slot in as right-handed relief at some point.
Stratton doesn’t project as bad as replacement level, but he isn’t necessarily expected to do much better. He’s probably a decent seventh or eighth guy in a bullpen. The form on all his pitches is quite good, but like many guys who can say that about their arsenal, his command is atrocious, and the nature of his delivery and arm action means his misses are largely in the zone. On the one hand, it limits his running speed and gives him a good floor; on the other hand, it prevents odors and makes it quite easy to pounce on him if he misses his spot. This profile worked fine for him in 2024 (largely due to low HR/FB), but he will need to tighten up his command to move into a more permanent bullpen role.
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