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The 2026 season has started out much better than 2025 for the Atlanta Braves. While the season is less than 10 percent complete, one of the best stories of the first couple of weeks of the season has been the overall success of the team’s starting rotation.
Coming into Spring Training,
the Braves seemed to be in a solid-enough position with their starting pitching depth and opted not to add a free agent starting pitcher on an MLB deal (Martin Perez was added, but on an MLB contract). Things changed rapidly when Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep were placed on the IL and got even more dire when fringe starter Joey Wentz was lost for the season and an oblique strain caused expected number two starter Spencer Strider to hit the IL prior to Opening Day.
Bryce Elder, who was out of options and seemed to be on the cusp of holding on to a big league job in Atlanta coming into Spring Training, found himself starting the season as the team’s fourth starter.
Elder, who was an All-Star in 2023 after a fantastic first half of the season, has been among the worst starting pitchers in the sport since the last-half of 2023. In 2025, he led the Braves in starts and innings pitched, but his overall numbers were subpar, thanks in part to seven starts in which he allowed five earned runs or more, including three starts with eight or more earned runs.
On a positive note, he did end the season by allowing three earned runs or less in six of his final seven starts, offering a glimmer of hope for future success.
Elder spent time with Hall of Fame pitcher Greg Maddux this off-season, gaining tutelage from one of the game’s all-time greats. Elder added a cutter and has worked to hone his control.
In his first two starts in 2026, he pitched 13 innings, struck out 13, and allowed zero earned runs while walking only two batters. It is the ultimate small sample size alert, but his success has stood out.
Are you buying this version of Bryce Elder as a legitimate mid-rotation starting pitcher? Or will it take another 10 starts for you to buy in on him solidifying his role on the Braves’ starting pitching staff?
