The Braves selected Connor Thomas’s contract from Triple-A Gwinnett on Tuesday, giving the 28-year-old left-hander a chance to return to Atlanta after a strong run in the minors. To make it work, the Braves optioned Owen Murphy to Gwinnett, released Daysbel Hernández, recalled James Karinchak and put Tyler Kinley on the paternity list.
For Thomas, a native of Tifton, Ga. and former Georgia Tech standout, the move is a homecoming as much as a promotion. Atlanta signed him to a minor league deal in November, and after spending his entire career before 2026 in the NL Central with the St. Louis and Milwaukee organizations, he is now on a roster that can move him freely back and forth between Gwinnett and the majors.
He reached this point on the strength of a solid stretch for Triple-A Gwinnett. Thomas appeared in 15 games, making 13 relief appearances and two starts, and covered 23 2/3 innings with a 1.14 ERA. That line looks eye-catching on its face, but the fuller picture is less spotless: he had a.213 average on balls in play, an 18.4% strikeout rate, an 8.3% walk rate, a 59% ground-ball rate, a 3.89 FIP and a 4.27 xFIP. In other words, the run prevention was excellent, even if the underlying indicators say he may have been living a little closer to the edge than the ERA alone suggests.
That helps explain why the Braves turned to him now. They needed an arm they could move without exposing him to waivers, and Thomas still has a full slate of three minor league option years. That gives Atlanta flexibility if it wants to keep cycling pitchers through the staff, especially with Kinley on the paternity list and Murphy sent down to open an active roster spot.
Hernández’s release adds another layer to the day’s shuffle. He has pitched in parts of three seasons for Atlanta, but command problems followed him into 2026, when he missed the first couple weeks with a shoulder injury and then posted a 5.06 ERA in Gwinnett. He walked 19 of the 104 batters he faced there, hit three more and was charged with two wild pitches in 22 games while his fastball sat at 96.3 mph, down from 97.7 mph last year.
Thomas’s first stint with the Braves now comes with a built-in uncertainty: the club can send him back to Gwinnett whenever it wants, and nothing in the move says how long he will stay up. What is clear is that Atlanta has chosen the hometown arm over the more familiar alternatives for now, and the next roster decision will tell whether this is a brief look or the start of something larger.
