Braves pitcher makes feelings known on facing Shohei Ohtani, Bryce Harper

The Atlanta Braves had a disappointing finish to a challenging campaign in 2024, but the emergence of Spencer Schwellenbach was one of the major positives for the team. The 23-year-old rookie grew to become an integral part of their starting rotation after the Braves lost their ace, Spencer Strider, within the opening weeks of the season.

Spencer Schwellenbach offered his perspective as a newcomer coming up against some of the finest hitters in the game, such as Bryce Harper and Shohei Ohtani. The Braves rookie shared that he prepared to face them by reminding himself that the pressure was on the superstars to get a hit off of him and that being the pitcher, he was the one who had the upper hand in the contests against them.

On Thursday, Spencer Schwallenbach was a guest for Rob Friedman on the Pitching Ninja channel. The Braves pitcher talked about facing Bryce Harper and Shohei Ohtani during the video interview. [13:22 to end]

"You're facing guys who are some of the best players of our generation, and just growing up watching them, especially Bryce Harper," he said. "He's been in the MLB for probably since I was 14-15 years old. I grew up loving Bryce Harper; just everything about his game. And then, here I am facing him in front of 40,000 fans. It's like, how do you calm yourself down?

"I tried to tell myself before the games, "It doesn't matter who's hitting; you still have to get out; they still have to get a hit off of you." So, that made it a lot easier," he added. "That's the kind of mindset that you got to have. There are guys that will come up to the plate that are these huge figures like Shohei Ohtani. It's like, how do you stay level and stay calm?"

Schwellenbach made 21 starts for the Braves in the 2024 season since making his major league debut on May 29.

Braves rookie discusses striking out Bryce Harper and Shohei Ohtani

Spencer Schwellenbach enjoyed an impressive rookie season in the MLB (Image Source: Imagn)

Spencer Schwellenbach earned the distinction of striking out both Bryce Harper and Shohei Ohtani during his rookie campaign. The Atlanta Braves starting pitcher discussed his experience of punching out two of the most respected hitters in the MLB to Rob Friedman.

"I struck Harper out with a curveball, and I got Ohtani out with a splitter," Schwellenbach recalled.

"Against Ohtani, I think two or three pitches before I struck him out, I threw the exact same pitch in the exact same location, and he didn't even take his bat off the shoulder," he added. "I was like, "Man, I could've sworn that was a really good pitch." Just even get him to think about it. That's just part of pitching. You've got to throw a couple more pitches, and then that pitch will be open. That's what happened."

Schwellenbach posted 123.2 innings during his rookie season with a 3.35 ERA, 1.043 WHIP, and 127 strikeouts.