Bryce Cason Elder (born May 19, 1999) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

for the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(MLB). Elder played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

, and was drafted by the Braves in the fifth round of the 2020 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut in 2022.

Amateur career

Elder began playing baseball as a child, but stopped to focus on golf by his fifth grade year, to free up his weekends from travel team baseball activities. As a freshman at Decatur High School in

Decatur, Texas Decatur is the county seat of Wise County, Texas, United States. Its population was 6,538 in 2020. History Wise County was established in 1856, and Taylorsville (in honor of Zachary Taylor) was made the county seat. Absalom Bishop, an early sett ...

, Elder considered returning to baseball, but the coach at the time would not permit Elder to play two spring season sports. A new baseball coach, hired before Elder's sophomore season, agreed to Elder's request to play baseball and golf. Elder also played basketball. After graduating from high school, Elder played

at the

. In 2019, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

with the

Wareham Gatemen The Wareham Gatemen are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Wareham, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in the league's West Division. The Gatemen play their home games at Clem Spillane Fi ...

of the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over one thousan ...

Professional career

Elder was drafted by the

in the fifth round of the

2020 Major League Baseball draft The 2020 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft took place on June 10 and 11, 2020. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2019 MLB season ...

, and signed with the team for $850,000. Elder made his professional debut in 2021 with the

Rome Braves The Rome Braves are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They are located in Rome, Georgia, and play their home games at AdventHealth Stadium. From 2003 to 2020, the team served ...

and was promoted to the Double-A

Mississippi Braves The Mississippi Braves, or M-Braves as they are referred to locally, are a Minor League Baseball team based in Pearl, Mississippi, a suburb of Jackson. The team is the Double-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves and plays in the Southern League. T ...

and the Triple-A

Gwinnett Stripers The Gwinnett Stripers are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They play their home games at Coolray Field in unincorporated Gwinnett County, Georgia (with a Lawrencevil ...

during the season. On July 10, 2021, Elder threw a combined no-hitter with Daysbel Hernandez. Over 25 starts between the three teams, Elder went 11–5 with a 2.75 ERA and 155 strikeouts over innings. On April 12, 2022, Elder was selected to the 40-man roster and promoted to the major leagues for the first time to make a spot start. He faced the

Washington Nationals The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...

that night, pitching innings, and earned a win. He was optioned to the

on May 1. He was recalled on August 13 to face the

Miami Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The franc ...

in another spot start the next day. On September 26, Elder threw a complete-game shutout against the

, becoming the first Braves' rookie pitcher to do so since

Paul Marak Paul Patrick Marak (born August 2, 1965), is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who played in with the Atlanta Braves. He batted and threw right-handed. Marak had a 1-2 record, with a 3.69 ERA, in seven games, in his one-year career. Born i ...

during the 1990 season. For the 2022 regular season, he pitched 54 innings to a 2–4 record with a 3.17 ERA. In 2023, after impressive spring training performances by

Jared Shuster Jared Craig Shuster (born August 3, 1998) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played college baseball at Wake Forest University. The Atlanta Braves selected him in the first ro ...

and Dylan Dodd, Elder was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett to begin the regular season. After one start in Triple-A, he was called up to make his season debut on April 5, which he won. At the midseason, Elder was selected for the first time as a reserve starting pitcher for the National League in the 2023 Major League Baseball All-Star Game. In 2024, Elder began the season in Triple-A Gwinnett after not being able to secure the fifth spot in the Braves rotation.

Pitching style

Elder throws five pitches: a sinker, four-seam fastball, slider, changeup and curveball.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elder, Bryce 1999 births Living people Atlanta Braves players Baseball players from Texas Gwinnett Stripers players Major League Baseball pitchers Mississippi Braves players National League All-Stars People from Decatur, Texas Rome Braves players Sportspeople from Wise County, Texas Texas Longhorns baseball players Wareham Gatemen players