For the third time in less than a year, former Orange pitcher Bryse Wilson has been called up by the Atlanta Braves.
On Thursday afternoon, Wilson will pitch against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. He will take the spot of Mike Foltynewicz, who was demoted to Gwinnett of the AAA International League last weekend.
Wilson’s promotion had been rumored since Foltynewicz was sent down on Sunday, but was confirmed by Atlanta manager Brian Snitker on Wednesday.
In his last start, Wilson threw six shutout innings for the Gwinnett Stripers in a 2-0 victory over Syracuse on Saturday. He struck out seven and walked two. It was Wilson’s first win since May 26.
Wilson started the season with Atlanta. On March 30, Wilson started against Philadelphia at Citizens Bank Park. Wilson scattered five hits over three-and-one-thirds innings, yielding four runs. He struck out three and walked one in a no decision. The Phillies went on to win 8-6.
On April 26, Wilson worked a shutout inning of relief against the Colorado Rockies at SunTrust Bank in Atlanta. He has been in Gwinnett ever since, making a homecoming trip to Durham Bulls Athletic Park on May 5.
Wilson is 4-6 with a 3.79 ERA with Gwinnett this season, but has thrown six innings in four of his last five starts.
Wilson became the first Orange Panther to reach the Major Leagues on August 20, 2018 when he was called up to pitch against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. He pitched five scoreless innings with three hits allowed, winning his Atlanta debut 1-0. Wilson struck out five and walked three.
He also nearly had a base hit, but was thrown out at first from right field by Gregory Polanco.
Wilson was 20 years and 243 days old when he made his debut last summer, the youngest player to appear in a Major League game in 2018. He returned to Gwinnett after the game.
Wilson was promoted to Atlanta when the Major League rosters expanded on September 1. He appeared in two more games, both relief appearances, in the final weeks of the regular season. On September 3 against Boston, Wilson gave up three runs off two hits in one innings. In another relief appearance against St. Louis on September 18, Wilson threw one inning. He surrendered two runs off three hits with one strike out. Wilson was left off Atlanta’s postseason roster as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Braves 3-1 in the best-of-five National League Divisional Series.
Wilson started 2018 with the Single-A Florida Fire Frogs of the Florida State League, but had a meteoric rise through the Braves system. Within one month of the season getting underway, he was called up to the Mississippi Braves of the AA Southern League.
Atlanta currently leads the National League East by five games over Philadelphia. After starting the season 12-14, the Braves went into Wednesday night’s game at Chicago with a season-best 47-33 record.
In the offseason, Wilson was no stranger to Hillsborough. He was a frequent visitor to Orange Panther football games last fall and spoke to the Stanford Middle School wrestling team, where he competed ten years ago.