Braves Agree to Terms with Pitcher Ross Detwiler

ATLANTA - The Atlanta Braves announced today that they have agreed to terms with free-agent left-handed pitcher Ross Detwiler on a Major League contract for the 2015 season. He is expected to be in Atlanta for Friday night's game against the Chicago Cubs (7:35 p.m.) and will wear uniform number 56.

Detwiler, 29, made 17 appearances for the Texas Rangers this season, including seven starts. He went 0-5 with a 7.12 ERA (34 ER/43.0 IP) prior to being released on July 15. He held left-handed hitters to a .220 (9-for-41) batting average and a .283 on-base percentage while with the Rangers.

The 6-foot-3, 215-pound southpaw is a veteran of eight Major League seasons and has compiled a career record of 20-37 in 149 games, with a 4.10 ERA (234 ER/514.0 IP). He has made 76 starts, going 17-34 with a 4.27 ERA, compared to a 3-3 mark with a 3.44 ERA in 73 career relief appearances.

Originally selected as the sixth overall pick in the 2007 June free-agent draft by Washington, Detwiler played his first seven Major League seasons with the Nationals, going 20-32 with a 3.82 ERA over 132 games. Since the franchise moved the Washington in 2005, he ranks seventh among all Nationals hurlers with 471.0 innings pitched. He won a career-high 10 games in a career-best 33 appearances (27 starts) in 2012, pitching to a 3.40 ERA (62 ER/164.1 IP) and fanning 105 batters for the only 100-strikeout campaign of his career. He made just nine minor league appearances before his Major League debut on September 7, 2007 at Atlanta.

A native of St. Louis, Mo., Detwiler represented the United States during the 2013 World Baseball Classic and earned the save vs. Italy, tossing 4.0 scoreless innings of relief in his only appearance of the tournament.