The greatest Brave to wear #61 is 2014 reliever Chasen Shreve.
Drafted out of the College of Southern Nevada, Shreve may owe his professional career a bit to his college teammate, Bryce Harper. As scouts flocked to the tiny school to see Harper in the spring of ’10, the Braves noticed the lefty Shreve and took him in the 11th round. He progressed nicely through the minors, but didn’t really make waves until 2014, when his 12.6 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9 rates in his first taste of AA earned him a midsummer call-up to replace a struggling Luis Avilan. When called up, he wore #51. While up, he mostly kept runs off the board, but allowed a .300 batting average to opposing hitters. After trading for James Russell, Atlanta optioned Shreve back to the minors to make roster space.
A month later, Shreve was called back up with the September 1 roster expansion, now sporting #61. In 10 appearances with #61 on his back, he went 7.1 innings, allowing 4 hits, 2 walks, and 0 runs while striking out 8. Opponents slashed just .154/.214/.192 against the southpaw. Atlanta even called on the rookie in meaningful situations, earning Shreve the first two holds of his MLB career. He also showed off a nice pickoff move:
In the offseason, Atlanta traded Shreve and David Carpenter to the Yankees for Manny Banuelos. While Banuelos had upside and was available at a discount due to injury, that’s probably a deal the Braves would take back if they could. While hardly a star, Shreve has remained a serviceable lefty in the years since.
Honorable mentions: Max Fried, who wore #61 for his debit in 2017, Phil Stockman.
Who Is the Best Ever to Wear #61?
- Livan Hernandez. He wore it his entire 17-year career. This includes his time in Atlanta, which didn’t make the cut above because it was mostly terrible.
- Silver: Chan Ho Park
- Bronze: Bronson Arroyo
- HM: Josh Beckett wore #61 for the first 3 and last 3 seasons of his career, but by the time the 2003 World Series arrived, Beckett had moved to #21, robbing the Marlins of the distinction of having multiple World Series MVPs to wear #61.
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