WASHINGTON -- If you thought JR Ritchie was going to be undone after he surrendered a home run on the first pitch of his Major League career, then you might not have known how the 8-year-old version of himself reacted after the third pitch he ever threw for the Bainbridge (Wash.) Mavericks was lined back into his ribcage.
Ritchie cried as his father and other coaches surrounded him. But he refused to leave the game and ended up throwing four scoreless innings.
Some of the resolve that was seen that day was displayed yet again as Ritchie made his Major League debut on Thursday afternoon at Nationals Park. The heralded prospect didn’t cry after James Wood hit his first pitch into the right field seats. But he did buckle down and provide a strong seven-inning start that helped the Braves complete a 6-1 road trip with a 7-2 win over the Nationals.
Ritchie, who ranks as MLB’s No. 79 prospect and the Braves’ No. 2 prospect, was supposed to face the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp on Thursday, but he certainly looked MLB-ready as he limited the Nationals to two runs and recorded seven strikeouts over seven innings.
How impressive is this line? Well, he’s the first Braves pitcher to record seven-plus strikeouts and allow two runs or fewer while notching at least seven innings in a MLB debut. If you take the strikeouts out of the equation, he joins Matt Wisler (2015), Horacio Ramirez (2003), David Nied (1992) and Paul Murak (1990) as the franchise’s only pitchers to allow two runs or fewer over at least seven innings in a MLB debut since 1990.
Along with looking like a big league pitcher, Ritchie got a taste of what it’s like to be backed by one of baseball’s most productive lineups. Consecutive doubles by Matt Olson and Austin Riley led to two runs in the fourth, followed up by a sac fly from Ozzie Albies and a single from Michael Harris II. The Braves pulled away during a four-run seventh that included Albies’ two-run single and Harris’ RBI double. Harris exited in the bottom half of the inning with left quad tightness.
Ritchie showed composure when Wood hit a center-cut, 93.5 mph fastball into the right field seats. After allowing the Nationals right fielder’s 10th homer, the 22-year-old hurler retired the next three batters he faced. A botched steal of home helped him escape a second-inning threat. But he got better as the day progressed.
CJ Abrams’ one-out homer in the fourth accounted for the only other run allowed by Ritchie, who was a Braves first round pick (35th overall) in 2022.