The youngest pitcher in MLB might just be the Braves’ next star

The steady drumbeat of Spring Training headlines became hard to ignore: Another promising young player was making waves for Atlanta.

This is, of course, the same team that developed a 23-year-old ace and a 21-year-old Rookie of the Year in Spencer Strider and Michael Harris II, respectively, in 2022, and just enjoyed another Rookie of the Year season from 24-year-old catcher Drake Baldwin in 2025.

This time, it was then-20-year-old Didier Fuentes. Some of the parallels between Fuentes and Strider were obvious: both threw fastballs that touched the upper 90s and dealt hard sliders that served as reliable strikeout offerings.

Both pitchers also had little experience in the upper Minors before their respective callups. Fuentes had thrown just 44 total innings at Double-A and Triple-A before this season; Strider threw just 64 innings at the upper levels before his breakout in 2022.

As fans dreamed on the possibility of another young arm breaking out in the rotation, the Braves, dealing with significant injuries to their starters, made a pragmatic decision. Fuentes, who turned 21 on June 17 and hasn’t yet topped 75 2/3 innings in a season, would make the roster, but start the year in the bullpen with the potential of stretching out as a long reliever or spot starter.

Soon after, Fuentes was optioned to Triple-A, and the Braves said they intended for him to stretch out as a starter. But after just one short start on April 22, Fuentes’ usage has come solely out of the bullpen.

And the results have probably been better than Atlanta could have hoped. The youngest player to throw a pitch in MLB this season, Fuentes has a 2.59 ERA in 31 1/3 big league innings with 36 strikeouts, helping fortify a ‘pen that leads MLB in ERA (2.77) and ranks fourth in fWAR (3.7).

Fuentes, who has appeared as a fireman, a setup man and even a closer, has been dominant. He’s the first pitcher aged 21 or younger to appear in at least 25 games with an ERA under 3 since … another Braves pitcher, Michael Soroka, in 2019. And that list of youngsters who found early success in the big leagues is a good one to be on -- some of the other names on it include Clayton Kershaw, José Fernández, Pedro Martínez and Dwight Gooden.

It’s a much stronger impression than Fuentes’ first foray into the bigs, which came last year, when he finished 0-3 with a 13.85 ERA across four starts in June and July.

So what has Fuentes done well? For starters, his four-seam fastball, which averages 96.9 mph and has topped out at 100.1 mph, doesn’t have elite vertical movement, but Fuentes’ relatively low arm angle and excellent extension give batters a tough look. Hitters are batting just .227 with an expected batting average of .225 against that pitch.

Compared to other pitchers who share Fuentes’ arm angle, 24 degrees, the Braves righty is throwing gas. Joe Ryan, Brady Singer, Merrill Kelly, Michael King and Bryan Woo all share the same arm slot as Fuentes, and none of those pitchers average as much velocity on their heater as he does. Granted, the 21-year-old has the benefit of gearing up for short outings out of the bullpen, but it’s promising that Fuentes has found early success with this formula.

Though that signature velocity dipped a bit on Sunday, when Fuentes allowed just his second earned run of the month in one-third of an inning in a loss to the Giants, he said he was healthy and just felt like he pitched poorly. Fuentes averaged 95 mph on the four-seamer, which bottomed out at 92.5 mph.

His slider, which Fuentes throws about 26% of the time, averages 86.4 mph with a comfortably above-average 34.2% whiff rate. It has served as a strong complement to his four-seamer, which is the true star of the show -- Fuentes throws the heater 67.2% of the time.

The young righty also has a splitter that the Braves would like him to develop as a third pitch, which is a good reminder that Fuentes is still very much a work in progress. Since the Braves expect Fuentes to transition back to starting in future seasons, it’s likely we haven’t seen what the fully fledged iteration of Fuentes will look like for years to come.

But if this dip into the Majors is any indication, the Braves just might have another young star on their hands.