Gators in the Pros: Hurston Waldrep Working on Getting Back to ‘The Show’ in Atlanta
A 16.71 ERA in your first two MLB starts would dishearten most pitchers. For former Gators star Hurston Waldrep, his less-than-stellar trips to the majors are a source of motivation and pride. After all, few could say that they achieved their childhood big-league dreams. Now, he’s focused on getting back to the bigs for the Atlanta Braves.
Waldrep, who transferred to UF from Southern Mississippi in 2023, spent just one season with the Gators. He was dominant, posting a 10-3 record as a starter with 156 strikeouts across the 101 2/3 innings he pitched and helping lead UF to the College World Series in Omaha. After being selected by Atlanta with the 24th overall pick in the 2023 draft, he quickly rose through the Braves’ system. Last season, he spent the majority of his time in Double-A and Triple-A, where he had a combined 3.12 ERA for Mississippi and Gwinnett.
From there, Waldrep was called up to pitch for Atlanta in June. It didn’t go as well as hoped, as he lasted fewer than four innings in both performances. This spring, after starting spring training in the Braves’ major league camp, he was optioned Feb. 26 to Triple-A Gwinnett, where Waldrep hopes to focus his secondary pitches and increase the effectiveness of curveball.
Sports@CJC spoke with Waldrep, who discussed his time at UF, his relationship with former Gators pitcher Brandon Sproat and how he first learned he was going to pitch in ‘The Show.’
1. What has your experience been like with the Braves organization since you left Florida?
Waldrep: I’ve really enjoyed my year and a half that I’ve been here in Atlanta. It’s been a lot of fun, a lot of really good people, but they’re really big on development. So, from the moment that I got here, it was sit down and have a lot of good conversations about what they want from me and what they expect from me which helps me a lot as a player. It helps a lot of people just have a plan and have a direction of where they want you to be and what they want you to do.
2. Have you been making some adjustments to your pitch grips or something during the off-season to be more advantageous in outings going forward?
Waldrep: I’ve been working on a curveball and then working on the slider and fastball, obviously. The splitter has kind of been…it is what it is. It’ll there when I need it. So, it’s been good, been making some mechanical changes. It’s very minute stuff, but I think it’s stuff that we have to do for the season. So, it’s been good.
3. On a spring training outing do you focus specifically on one pitch or is it let’s just see how my arms doing?
Waldrep: In the past couple outings, [I’ve] been working on the fastball a little bit more than everything else, And then obviously the curveball. Haven’t thrown in a game in a while, so been working on it again. But it’s not just like generally focusing on that one pitch more than any others. It’s making that pitch better, and making that pitch help all the other pitches. So just kind of focusing on that pitch in a sense of making use of it in counts that I wouldn’t normally make use of it, and just kind of helping everything get better along the way.
4. Can you give me an example of a count that you normally wouldn’t use your curve that you’ve been trying to work on?
Waldrep: Yeah? So, the curveballs mostly, I use it mostly in college as a strikeout pitch, and now it’s going to be more of an end zone pitch. So, we’re trying to steal strike ones, trying to just change the looks with left-handed batters and some right-handed batters, depending on who they are and what they do. It’s been a little bit of a challenge, but just trying to get it end zone, get the shape of it consistent, really focus[ing] on getting strike one and getting ahead.
5. Have you been keeping up with your former teammates, such as Jac Caglianone or Brandon Sproat?
Waldrep: I talk to [Mets prospect] Brandon Sproat about every day. I haven’t talked to [Rangers outfielder] Wyatt [Langford] in a while. We, actually, played against each other right after we got drafted, got to catch up a little bit, kind of text back and forth, Jac, I talked to a good bit. Brandon Neely, talked to a good bit. So yeah, most of the team. It’s really cool, because a lot of these guys moved on and were able to play baseball at the next level. So to be able to play against him and see him in passing has been really cool.
I think it’s just kind of cool to have someone else [like Sproat] who understands the daily ins and outs, the grind of the schedule that we have. So, it’s just really cool to be able to sit down and talk to someone about a lot of stuff other than baseball. But then when we do talk about baseball, it’s also like the understanding is there, like, ‘Hey, we’re going through this.’
And he’s like, ‘yeah, exactly. We did this, or we did this.’ That’s been pretty cool to have a to have someone in a similar situation.
6. How did you learn that you were going to get called up to the majors for the first time?
Waldrep: We’re playing in Durham, and I just pitched the week before in Norfolk, Virginia, and I just moved up Triple-A. I made one start in Triple-A and then…got called into the office after the game. I had thrown really bad bullpen that day, so I didn’t really know what to think. I [thought] they may want to push my next start back.
So walked in the office and sat down with [Gwinnett Stripers] manager [Kanekoa Texeira]. We were on the phone with the assistant GM, and he started the conversation out by asking me about my bullpen. So, I went on this ramble. He was smiling, and I was, like, whatever, he always smiles. He’s a happy person. He always smiles. I didn’t think anything of it. And then I ramble.
And he was like, ‘Well, it doesn’t matter, because you’re gonna pitch in The Show on Sunday.’
I was taken back by didn’t know what to think. Kind of shocked me. Took me off guard. He started laughing, and the assistant GM started laughing, and it was a really cool moment. Went outside, called my parents, and we got to share the news with them.
7. Is there anything you particularly miss about the UF baseball team or that you wish you could have in the Braves system?
Waldrep: Me and Spro[at] talk about this a lot too, but just the camaraderie of college baseball and the competitiveness. You have to win every game, and you have to win as many games as possible in a short [time]. Compared to professional baseball, in a shortened season you can’t get that anywhere else. Then the atmosphere of college baseball and college athletics in general is awesome. And, you don’t see that as much in the regular season of professional baseball. You get it in the postseason, obviously, but the atmosphere of every college game was pretty cool.
8. What do you think the biggest challenge is in making that leap between collegiate baseball and Single-A or ACL?
Waldrep: You start to notice things, especially when you move from the lower levels of minor league baseball to the higher levels. You have a person for everything. There’s a coach for everything. There’s a trainer for everything. And just the access to resources is like no other. You may not have someone holding your hand the whole time, doing everything for you, but you have the access to resources.
If you have the drive to do it, and you have the want and desire to take care of yourself and to be better as a player, you have every resource ever to do it. That’s been my biggest takeaway from my starts and professional ball so far.
9. What is one goal that you’re approaching this season and this year with?
Waldrep: My main goal is to stay healthy throughout the full year, but most importantly, it’s [to] not take a day for granted, not take a second for granted. To just give everything I have into this game – very I’m very grateful to be able to play it and I enjoyed a lot.
More Gators in the Pros:
* A.J. Puk Starting to Feel Comfortable in Deep D’backs ‘Pen
* Dane Dunning on Winning a World Series, His Time With UF
Category: Braves, Gators in the Pros, Top Stories
Tagged: Atlanta Braves Gators in the Pros Hurston Waldrep MLB MLB Spring Training
