The Atlanta Braves optioned rookie right-hander Owen Murphy to Triple-A Gwinnett and selected the contract of veteran right-hander Elieser Hernández before Sunday’s game against the Texas Rangers, the latest move in a pitching-staff reshuffling that has the Braves approaching the July 31 trade deadline in evaluation mode.
Murphy, 22, was optioned after allowing three runs, two earned, in 2⅔ innings in his first major league start on Saturday night, a 7-6 loss to the Rangers at Truist Park. The Braves’ official transactions log shows the move was paired with the addition of Hernández from the Gwinnett Stripers.
A short first outing
Murphy’s first major league appearance ended without a decision. Manager Walt Weiss said after the game that Murphy “threw fine” but “left some pitches over the plate.” The rookie worked into the third inning before the Rangers tagged him for the runs that put the game out of reach.
Saturday’s start was a one-turn audition. Atlanta’s rotation has been a question all season, and Murphy’s promotion had been telegraphed as much for evaluation as for run prevention. The Braves used the start, gathered tape, and sent him back down — the standard sequence for a young pitcher whose development the front office wants to manage in the minors rather than through attrition in the majors.
The veteran call-up
Hernández, 31, last pitched in the major leagues in 2024, when he compiled a combined 6.32 ERA in nine games between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Milwaukee Brewers. He had been pitching at Gwinnett, where the Braves had stashed him as organizational depth.
Hernández’s addition gives Atlanta a multi-inning relief option in the short term and a swing-man alternative as the deadline approaches. His contract selection pushes the Braves’ active-roster count to 26, and it likely signals that Atlanta expects to need fresh arms before the calendar turns to August.
The bigger picture in the rotation
The Murphy move is not isolated. The Braves are also tracking left-hander Martín Pérez, who has been on the injured list since July 6 with a left forearm contusion. Pérez threw a bullpen session Sunday, and Weiss said Saturday that Pérez “is on the radar” and close to returning.
The Braves are also watching Smith Shawver, who pitched 4⅓ scoreless innings in his most recent start for Gwinnett. Weiss said Shawver “will be in the conversation” as Atlanta weighs options to fill the back of the rotation or absorb any moves the front office makes at the deadline.
Deadline math
The optioning of Murphy gives the front office another data point: a young arm that has shown enough to debut but still needs development. The recall of Hernández adds a controllable veteran to a bullpen that has been asked to cover heavy innings all summer.
The next ten days will determine whether Atlanta buys, sells, or holds. The Braves sit in a tightly bunched National League wild-card race, and the rotation choices made in the interim — Murphy in the minors, Pérez returning, Shawver waiting, Hernández covering — are the inventory moves a front office makes when it is still deciding which direction to take at the deadline.
Source: ESPN — Braves demote Owen Murphy, add Elieser Hernández as trade deadline looms, July 20, 2026; MLB.com — Atlanta Braves transactions