I’d imagine that if you told Zach Thompson that October 1, 2022 would be the last time he would pitch in a big league game until April 11, 2025, he probably would’ve laughed at you or at least looked at you like
you were a weirdo. However, that ended up being the case for Thompson, as he spent the entirety of the 2023 season in the minors before suffering a partial flexor tear that required surgery and cost him the 2024 season. Thompson eventually made it back to the bigs as a member of the Braves. How did that end up going?
How acquired
Shortly after Atlanta’s season ended in the 2024 NL Wild Card Series, the Braves quietly signed Zach Thompson to a minor league deal.
What were the expectations?
Based on the fact that Thompson spent the vast majority of his time on the farm this season, the Braves clearly had Thompson tabbed as organizational depth who could eventually contribute to the big league squad at some point in a short interval. Outside of that, his job was to stay fresh while being reliable and productive for both the Triple-A Gwinnett Stripers and the Double-A Columbus Clingstones as well.
Thompson had actually pitched pretty well as a swingman for the Marlins back in 2021, but that was driven by a low HR/FB, and his pitching was more on the order of a fifth starter. Once the HR/FB rate caught back up to him in 2022, he had a season much closer to replacement level for the Pirates in 2022. He scuffled in Triple-A for the Blue Jays in 2023, so there was little reason to assume he was going to be anything other than replacement-level depth.
2025 results
Thompson’s quick cup of coffee in the bigs was likely the high point of his time with the Braves, since he ended up pitching nearly four scoreless innings without giving up a hit or a run. In fact, Thompson only had to deal with one baserunner over the 12 batters that he faced. That seems like it’s pretty good, right? There’s got to be a reason why he didn’t get more of a look outside of pitching in games where the Braves were pretty much out of it for the night.
I’d imagine that Thompson’s 6.57 ERA and 5.47 FIP across 37 innings (27 in Triple-A and 10 in Double-A) probably wasn’t encouraging enough to get him a further look. It also doesn’t help that his most-used pitch was a four-seamer that was sitting at 91. You’ve got to have some nasty stuff to make something like that work and it appears that Thompson’s stuff is not nasty enough to get away with that.
Thompson’s 2025 ended with 0.1 fWAR in 3 2/3 innings, with a 0 ERA-, 58 FIP-, and a 107 xFIP-. The defense behind him gave the batters that faced him a .000 BABIP.
What went right?
Again, there are absolutely no complaints about how Thompson’s 3 2/3 innings went with the Atlanta Braves at the big league level. It also had to feel special for Thompson to get back to the big leagues after spending nearly three full years away from this level. While pitching at Steinbrenner Field for his return may have felt like more of the same, I’m sure that his return to an actual big league ballpark in Toronto was very satisfying.
Unfortunately for him, that game came in a blowout, as he entered with the Braves down 6-1 and held the fort down such that they’d eventually lose 6-3.
What went wrong?
Unfortunately, his subpar performance in the minors probably explains why he didn’t really get more of a look with the Braves at the major league level. It’s hard to make your way up in the baseball world with an ERA that’s closing in on seven and a FIP that’s inching towards six as well.
2026 outlook
Zach Thompson got DFAed on April 28 and eventually re-signed with the Braves on a minor league deal a few days later. The relationship between the Braves and Thompson didn’t end up being a long one, as Atlanta ended up releasing him altogether in mid-August. Like so many other of the temporary faces who showed up to pitch for the Braves in 2025, Thompson will likely be simply looking to latch on with an organization at some point and attempt to make any Opening Day roster with a strong performance during Spring Training. It’s doubtful that it’ll happen with the Braves, though.
