Rob Whalen

Position: RHP
Born: 1/31/1994
Height: 6'2
Weight: 200
B/T: R/R
Acquired: Via trade from the Mets on July 24, 2015, along with RHP John Gant for 3B Juan Uribe and INF/OF Kelly Johnson (ATL). Originally drafted in the 12th round of the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft (NYM).

Most Recent Stats at Time of Debut
CURRENT SEASON STATS: 7-6 with a 2.40 ERA in 21 starts between Mississippi (Double-A) and Gwinnett (Triple-A), striking out 112 and walking 44 while allowing 99 hits in 120 innings.

Info & MLB Debut Date
Contract purchased from Gwinnett August 3 when RHP Ryan Weber was sent down.
MLB Debut Date: 8/3/2016

Debut Details
August 3, in an 8-4 win against the Pirates. The starting pitcher, he earned the win, allowing four runs, all earned, on four hits over five innings, walking four and striking out five while giving up one homer, throwing one wild pitch, and hitting two batters (well, actually, hitting one batter twice). Out of 98 pitches thrown, 54 were for strikes. All four runs were allowed in the first inning and all with two outs in the inning. After the first batter he faced, leadoff hitter Adam Frazier, flew out to right field, Gregory Polanco singled to right field and promptly stole second. Jung Ho Kang then flew out to center field before the floodgates opened. Whalen hit Starling Marte with a pitch (which he would do again in the fifth inning), putting two men on for Matt Joyce who unloaded a three-run homer to center field. The next batter, David Freese, singled to left field after which Whalen walked Jordy Mercer and Eric Fryer to load the bases. Whalen threw a wild pitch while opposing pitcher Jeff Locke was at bat, allowing Freese to score, before striking Locke out swinging to end the inning. Whalen did not allow another run, working his way through a few tough spots to make it through five full and earn the win as his Braves chipped away and scored at least one run in six innings in a row.

Player Notes
Whalen’s debut was definitely a variety pack of events. He checked in this season just making it onto Baseball America’s Top 30 prospects for the Braves’ system, ranked at No. 29 for his plus command of his arsenal of sinker, curveball, changeup and slider. He split the 2015 season between two High A spots pre- and post-trade, at St. Lucie (Mets) and Carolina (Braves), combining to go 5-7 with a 3.35 ERA. He also split the 2014 campaign between the Mets’ Gulf Coast club and Savannah (Class A) with a 9-2 record and 1.94 ERA in 14 games, striking out 63 while walking 21 in 69 .2 IP after an outstanding 2013 showing at Kingsport (Rookie) where he’d posted a 1.87 ERA in 12 starts, striking out 76 and walking 17 in 72 innings, allowing 50 hits and limiting Appalachian League batters to a .187 average. Whalen brought a combined 2.45 career ERA into his big league debut.