The Road to The Show™: Braves’ Shuster

Each week, MiLB.com profiles an elite prospect by chronicling the steps he's taken toward achieving his Major League dream. Here's a look at second-ranked Braves prospect Jared Shuster. For more stories about players on The Road to The Show, click here.

Jared Shuster is on the verge of breaking into a very talented group.

Over the past year, the Braves’ farm system has been redesigned with key promotions and trades in service to the big-league lineup. But most of the starts for the team with the ninth-best starters' ERA in the Majors in 2022 were made by pitchers who came up through the organization.

Barring some offseason splash -- which general manager Alex Anthopoulous hasn't been shy about making -- the look of that rotation could go from mostly to fully homegrown. This past season, the Braves received 117 starts from homegrown pitchers, and the team has options for 2023 on the two veterans, Charlie Morton and Jake Odorizzi, who made 41 of the other 45 starts.

It’s a crowded field for Shuster to join -- especially if Mike Soroka is able to return from the elbow soreness that shut him down in September. Soroka has just three Major League starts since 2019, mostly due to an Achilles tear, but he made six starts with Triple-A Gwinnett this summer.

Ranked as the Braves’ No. 2 prospect, Shuster is one of six pitchers on that list with either Triple-A or MLB experience. Among that group, only one hurler -- top-ranked Kyle Muller -- got a start in the Majors this season. But while the task of breaking into the big-league rotation may seem daunting, Shuster took another big step forward for the second time in as many seasons.

Across 27 outings, including 25 starts, Shuster posted a 3.29 ERA with 145 strikeouts and 38 walks in 139 ⅓ innings between Double-A Mississippi and Gwinnett. The 24-year-old opened with the M-Braves and was promoted at the end of July. It was a similar cadence to his first professional season last year, where he began with High-A Rome and finished in Mississippi.

“Obviously the strike-throwing is well above average, which we love to see from all our guys,” Braves director of player development Ben Sestanovich told MiLB.com. “Just seeing him perform at two levels and take the ball for five months and continue his development as a starting pitcher was terrific to see.”

Shuster made 13 appearances in which he allowed one run or fewer. In just his second outing of the season on April 16, the New Bedford, Massachusetts, native matched a Southern League record by striking out eight consecutive Biloxi hitters.

“That was a pretty cool moment for sure,” Shuster told the Atlanta Jewish Times in September. “I didn’t even realize [I tied the record] until the rain started coming and the game was over.”

Shuster finished that contest with a career-best 12 punchouts, a figure he matched on July 12 in his final start before appearing in the Futures Game.

Shuster replaced Giants pitcher Kyle Harrison, the top-ranked lefty in the sport, in the third inning of the prospect showcase at Dodger Stadium. He got through the fourth, striking out a pair, but allowed a solo shot to former batterymate Shea Langeliers.

Shuster’s results following the promotion to Gwinnett were mostly better than his first tour of the Southern League in 2021. He went 1-3 with a 4.25 ERA while striking out 7.21 batters per nine innings.

Jared Shuster was dealing ♦️

The No. 2 @Braves prospect racked up 10 K's over 7 innings for @GoStripers. pic.twitter.com/9PDrPKPwwg

— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) September 24, 2022

The 2020 first-rounder ran into trouble in his final start of the season, surrendering four runs over three innings. But he looked much more comfortable in the International League in his first nine outings, allowing 19 earned runs over 45 ⅔ innings (3.74 ERA) while holding opposing batters to a .223 average. Shuster was bitten by the long ball throughout his stint in Gwinnett, however. He allowed 10 homers in 48 ⅔ innings with the Stripers and just eight in 90 ⅔ innings with the M-Braves.

Shuster built a reputation as a control pitcher at Wake Forest and in his first professional season last year. His 2.45 walks per nine innings ranked 20th among all Minor League pitchers to complete at least 130 innings this season.

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound southpaw features a tumbling changeup, which he pairs with a low-90s four-seamer. Sestanovich also made note of the development of his hard slider, which had proven to be in need of improvement by the end of last season. That third offering was a major contributor to his success this year and should be vital as he continues to progress.

Among all the changes in the Braves system over the past year, Shuster has emerged as one of the best in the group. There’s clearly a lot of starting pitching depth available to the club, which will likely give Shuster more time to figure things out in Triple-A.