A former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher is making a fresh start with the Atlanta Braves.
Atlanta recently revealed its 2024 Spring Training non-roster invitees, which included former Cardinals reliever Jake Walsh, who was signed to a minor league contract, according to MLB.com’s John Denton.
“Former Cardinals reliever Jake Walsh is headed to Spring Training with the Braves on a minor league contract,” Denton said in a statement.
Walsh was selected by the Cardinals in the 16th round of the 2017 Major League Baseball June Amateur Draft, and he has spent his whole professional career with them.
The 28-year-old advanced through the Cardinals’ farm system before making his big league debut in 2022, appearing in three games and allowing four earned runs in 2 2/3 innings thrown.
Walsh spent the 2023 season with the Triple-A Memphis Redbirds before getting injured and released by the team. The righty appeared in 27 games with Memphis, recording a 5.28 ERA and a 34-to-23 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 30 2/3 innings. He was released in July and has remained a free agent ever since.
The righty will now have the opportunity to work his way back from injury as a me
mber of the Braves. It’s unknown what his role will be, but if he impresses in Spring Training, he’ll most likely spend the majority of the season in the minors.
It can never hurt to build depth at the minor league level with big league potential. If he performs well, he may be promoted to the major leagues at some point.
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