Cal Quantrill was the first player to suit up for the Atlanta Braves whose last name started with a “Q.” That might be the nicest thing you can say about his season. He spent a few weeks with the Braves trying
to fill the injury-created void in the starting rotation, but it was a forgettable, if not outright disastrous, two games for the seven-year veteran.
How acquired
Quantrill was the eighth overall pick by the San Diego Padres in the 2016 draft. After his debut with the Padres in 2019, he was shipped to Cleveland as part of a massive nine-player trade in 2020. The Guardians then traded him to the Colorado Rockies after the 2023 season. He parted the Rockies for the Miami Marlins as a free agent in the 2024-2025 off-season. He was at least passable with Miami, but after three straight terrible starts (one of which came against the Braves), the Marlins cut him, and the Braves claimed him on waivers on August 21.
He didn’t last long, as the Braves released him on September 4. He ended up signing a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers, but did not appear with their big league club.
What were the expectations?
Quantrill’s career could probably be described as “unmet expectations.” His dad was a 14-year veteran of MLB who largely failed at starting but carved out a career by being hyper-durable and rarely walking anyone. Cal Quantrill’s career doesn’t seem like it’s going to last quite as long, short of a renaissance.
For the first four years of his career, Quantrill was a pitch-to-contact mid-rotation starter/swingman type who benefited from a relatively low HR/FB rate. His final year in Cleveland saw his performance take a tumble in pretty much all respects, and led to his banishment to Colorado, where things only slightly improved, offset by a lack of the low HR/FB that saved him previously. His time with the Marlins was again, maybe a little better than the prior two seasons, but also highly inconsistent, with a terrible April and a poor June offset by a decent May and a great July. And then came those August starts that got him cut. Quantrill was pitching like a number four-ish starter (1.5ish fWAR/200) in aggregate when the Braves scooped him up, but those last few starts loomed large.
There were no expectations that Quantrill could solve the Braves’ rotation ills, but given his track record of being at least passable, it seemed like he could at least innings. But, he could not.
2025 results
The season as a whole was the worst of Quantrill’s career. The Miami part was passable, as noted. The Atlanta part was, well, avert your eyes. His last start saw him struggle in a way no Braves starter had done since 1994.
For the season, he finished with 0.4 fWAR in 117 2/3 innings, on the back of a 142/124/118 line (ERA-/FIP-/xFIP-). Of course, that line was dramatically marred by his two Atlanta starts, since he had 0.8 fWAR and a 129/111/112 line in Miami. In the end, he had a horrible xERA, posted career line-ish walk and strikeout rates, and didn’t get bailed out by HR/FB like earlier in his career. Never much of a contact manager, he had an absurd .430 xwOBACON-against in 2025.
What went right?
With the Marlins, it wasn’t a good season, but he did give the team 109 2/3 innings in his 24 starts. With Atlanta, he produced one bad start and one horrific one before the Braves opted to move on a week later. The Rangers did pick him up, so there was still interest, and he had two good starts at Triple-A to build on for next season. We usually try to include a blurb or clip about something that was a positive outcome for a guy while wearing a Braves uniform in these player reviews, but there’s just nothing of the sort for Quantrill, whose two starts both saw the Braves get blown out.
What went wrong?
On August 28 against the Phillies, Quantrill was charged with nine earned runs — thanks in large part to surrendering four home runs — in 3 1/3 innings, becoming the first starter to have a line with that many runs and home runs in while getting so few outs since the time of… John Smoltz, apparently. He also somehow managed an 0/0 K/BB ratio while getting ten outs, which is something.
The start before, Quantrill had a 3/5 K/BB ratio and also allowed a homer. There may be guys who’ve had a worse two starts with their new team, but we have no idea who they are. We’re not going to provide clips, because you get the idea.
2026 outlook
Quantrill’s struggles likely will see him move into the minor league contract with a Spring Training invite portion of his career — maybe permanently, maybe for the time being. He’s still relatively young and could provide a team depth as a long guy in a bullpen or as an occasional starter, possibly at Triple-A. That won’t be in Atlanta, but everyone who follows baseball knows, no team can have too much starting pitching, so Quantrill could see action in the big leagues at some point in 2026.
A career shift to Korea or Japan could also be in the cards for the second-generation MLB pitcher, where his lack of stuff might be less of a penalty.
