Braves will option Hurston Waldrep and call up Hayden Harris, per report

Sunday figures to be a special day at the ballpark during what’s been a dark season for the Atlanta Braves so far. Charlie Morton will open things up for the Braves to begin Sunday’s season finale but they’ve still got a bit of work to do in order to make that happen. In the meantime, they’ve decided to do a bit of roster maneuvering involving two of their top young arms.

According to a report from David O’Brien of The Athletic, the Braves will be sending Hurston Waldrep back down to Triple-A and calling up Hayden Harris in response.

It’s a bit of a smart move on Atlanta’s part, as doing this will save Harris a minor league option going forward and also get him a chance to actually (and hopefully) make one last appearance before the season ends. Harris has only pitched 2.2 innings across three appearances so far this season so the more appearances he can make at the big league level while he can, the better — even if it’ll likely just be for this final moment of the season.

Hurston Waldrep’s season is already done and what a season it was — Waldrep will finish with an ERA of 2.88 (68 ERA-) and a FIP of 3.21 (79 FIP-), good for 1.2 fWAR across 10 appearances and 56.1 innings pitched. That’s a very creditable performance for a rookie season and there’s plenty of optimism for what he’ll be capable of going forward.

Either way, the Braves are now set up to make sure that Game 162 goes as smoothly as possible