If anyone forgot that Blake Burkhalter made an appearance for the Atlanta Braves this season, they likely would not be alone. What he did this season is the definition of the term “cup of coffee” in the majors, one of a handful of players in the Braves organization with the same experience in 2026.
How Acquired
Blake Burkhalter was drafted by the Braves in the same draft class as JR Ritchie (2022), in the second round, out of Auburn University. He has been in the Braves system ever since. The highest he reached
in the prospect rankings in his time was 14th by Baseball America.
Somewhat interestingly and/or tellingly, the Braves did not protect Burkhalter by adding him to the 40-man roster ahead of last year’s Rule 5 Draft. This suggests that either they didn’t think highly of him, or figured other teams wouldn’t. They were right, in that no one bothered to claim Burkhalter, and also in that they had little interest in using him at the big league level.
What were the expectations?
There were virtually no expectations at the MLB level for Burkhalter, and any that existed probably took a hit when he was left unprotected. Beyond hovering around the 40 FV area, Burkhalter had a rough go of it after being promoted to Triple-A in 2025, with an FIP of 4.82 and an xFIP of 5.43 (and an xERA in that same area) while working mostly as a reliever.
The presumption was that he’d need to show something in the way of better peripherals before being a candidate for the big league roster.
2026 Results
It was a true cup of coffee for Burkhalter. The truest, really. He was promoted to the big leagues when rosters expanded on September 1, he pitched one inning, and then he was sent down the next day. The end.
That inning featured one hit, one walk, one strikeout, and one run charged to him. The Braves were already trailing 5-2, and the two baserunners, along with a wild pitch and two flyouts, led to a sixth Nationals run via sacrifice fly. He did at least end on a high note with his strikeout of Daylen Lile.
His bigger action was in the minors, where he dealt with some injury stuff and a variety of rehab assignments. Working as a pure reliever in Triple-A, he pitched 29 2/3 innings over 21 appearances, with a 2.43 ERA that was belied by a 3.35 FIP and 4.37 xFIP. He did strike out a bunch of guys (about 27 percent of batters faced), but his walk rate was about as close to being double digits (9.8 percent) as possible without actually tripping that concerning threshold.
What went right?
What went right is that Burkhalter can now say he was an MLB pitcher. He made his debut and it was not a terrible one, though it wasn’t great either. Beyond that, you can point to his ERA in the minors, where he again outpitched his peripherals substantially. Maybe he’s got some kind of unique ability to do so, but the Braves don’t seem to buy it.
What went wrong?
The flip side to the above is that the Braves don’t seem to really believe in him — his “shot” was all of one inning even when the Braves were playing garbage time games over the last week of the season, and the Braves definitely haven’t been swayed by the low ERAs combined with poor peripherals that he’s shown at Triple-A in 2025-2026.
He’s on the 40-man roster now, but it remains to be seen whether he survives a winter of cuts and adds.
2027 Outlook
There is a very real chance that we see Blake Burkhalter at the MLB level at some point during 2027 for the Braves unless he is traded. After all, he’s on the 40-man, and the Braves love their yo-yos. As to whether he gets a legitimate shot to validate his ERA-over-his-peripherals (or crash out if he can’t), that seems a lot less likely. Maybe with some extra development, he can become a guy whom the Braves are comfortable using as a reliever, but we’re not there yet. For the time being, he projects as yet another replacement level reliever, and the Braves, for whatever reason, love to make waiver claims for those guys rather than filling the roster fringe with promotions from within.
