Brave New World for Wiles

With teams beginning to finalize rosters towards the conclusion of Spring Training, the Atlanta Braves acquired an arm that would become one of pleasant surprises in the Gwinnett rotation to begin the season.

Nathan Wiles was originally set to open the year as a reliever, entering his seventh year as part of the Tampa Bay Rays organization. After making eight appearances for the Rays in Major League camp, he was traded to Atlanta for cash considerations on March 21.

The 26-year-old had been in Tampa Bay’s system ever since he was drafted in the eighth round in 2019 out of the University of Oklahoma. Now with Atlanta, Wiles was ready to get started with a new organization.

“It’s been weird. I've never been traded before, I started with the Rays and got traded here in my seventh year of baseball and last year of my contract,” Wiles said in an interview with Stripers broadcaster Dave Lezotte. “It’s been weird and exciting but I’m just happy to be here and be back in Triple-A.”

Wiles had seen several teammates get dealt a similar hand over the course of his career. When he found out about his own trade, he wasn’t shocked he would have to adjust to that fate as well.

“I’m not really surprised by anything anymore. I’ve seen a similar situation happen to a ton of others, it’s one of those things where it’s “oh it’s happening to me now” so it’s kind of weird,” Wiles said. “I threw a few times for the Rays in Spring Training, and I felt really good as a reliever, and I got traded here and they said they are going to build me back up as a starter.”

With the Rays, Wiles grew familiar with the Triple-A level as a member of the Durham Bulls. He pitched there from 2022-24, appearing in 56 games and making 31 starts.

Some of his best career moments with the Bulls came against Gwinnett including his Triple-A debut on September 14, 2022 and his start on August 18, 2023 where he matched then career-highs of seven innings pitched and seven strikeouts.

Now joining a Stripers clubhouse not lacking MLB experience, Wiles felt like he was in his first professional season all over again.

“It’s definitely a veteran clubhouse, I feel like the young one again,” Wiles said. “I felt like kind of an older guy on Durham last year.”

Despite not being on the Stripers Opening Day roster, he wouldn’t have to wait long to pitch at Coolray Field for the first time in a Gwinnett uniform. Wiles joined the roster on April 1 and was slated to start the next day against Nashville.

The Overland Park, Kansas native gave fans a taste of what they could expect from him in his debut with four hitless innings while striking out five batters and allowing just one baserunner on a walk.

“All my pitches were working; I fell behind in some counts but obviously I didn’t get hurt by it too much,” Wiles said about the debut outing. “Everything felt good, everything was in the zone for the most part and I was able to compete.”

Wiles extended his scoreless streak to eight innings to start his Gwinnett career after another four scoreless frames in Norfolk on April 12.

Even with his scoreless streak coming to an end in the first inning of his third start, Wiles still rebounded to put together his first quality start of the season against Lehigh Valley on April 17.

Little did Wiles know, the next time he threw, the spotlight would get much bigger.

With the team on the six-hour bus ride to Jacksonville, Wiles was approached by Stripers manager Kanekoa Texeira.

“He [Texeira] goes “hey you might have to throw tomorrow” and I said, “OK yeah”. I checked my phone, and I saw Spencer Strider was going on the Injured List so my mind started going a little bit and started getting a little outside what I could control,” Wiles said. “My thoughts were racing for the remainder of the four hours on the ride. When we got to the hotel, I got to my room, and he gave me a call and said I was going up to the big leagues and it was an exciting moment to say the least.”

Wiles was ready to hit the road again, this time to join an MLB roster for the first time in his career. The first call he made after hearing the news went to his girlfriend.

“Usually when I FaceTime her and she’s in the middle of something she gets annoyed and asks if is this important,” Wiles said. “Every time I say ‘no it’s not’ and this time I said yes, and she knew right away that this is what the call was going to be like.”

His contract was selected by the Braves on April 22 and in front of his girlfriend and several family members, Wiles got his chance to debut at Truist Park that night in the ninth inning against the St. Louis Cardinals.

With the Braves already trailing, Wiles struggled as he allowed four hits and three earned runs in an inning of work. He recorded his first MLB strikeout on a foul-tip against Willson Contreras.

While he reached a goal every player dreams of in making his MLB debut, Wiles draws motivation from the less-than-ideal results of the outing.

“It was fun, definitely a dream come true. Not very happy with how it went and that has been fueling me ever since. I have a feeling it will continue to fuel me until I get another chance,” Wiles said. “All I can think about was the bad things that happened. That’s just how I operate so that taste left a bitter taste in my mouth and that’s been my soul motivation since.”

Wiles would have to wait for that second chance as he was optioned back to Gwinnett the next day.

After going five innings while allowing two earned runs and striking out six in his first start back at Jacksonville on April 26, Wiles found a groove in one of the best starts of his career on May 2.

Facing Nashville for the second time of the year at Coolray Field, he struck out a career-high 11 batters. Smashing his previous total of seven, Wiles surpassed that mark by just the fourth inning.

He was cruising until the sixth inning when Nashville rallied with back-to-back homers to go up 3-1. The three-run sixth was enough for the Sounds to hand Wiles a tough-luck loss.

“I’m going to regret that sixth inning for a while but overall, I thought it was a really good outing,” Wiles said. “Execution was extremely high, everything just felt really good, overall, I’m pretty happy.”

Through May 22, he holds a 2.23 ERA with 42 strikeouts in 36.1 innings of work. He brought his four-pitch mix of fastball, changeup, cutter, and slider over from Tampa Bay and has excelled with that arsenal in Gwinnett.

Stripers pitching coach Wes McGuire believes each pitch does its’ job in setting Wiles up for success each at-bat.

“He’s a strike-thrower that’s developed four solid pitches that helps each one be better,” McGuire said. “If he can throw his fastball where he wants to and throw the off-speed off of that, it sets him up to have success.”

In that pitch mix, Wiles has always relied on his changeup to lead the way having thrown it just as much as his fastball to begin the year.

“The changeup is my bread and butter. I’ll throw that the majority of the time,” Wiles said. “Heavy changeup, heavy cutter and I’ll get a few of the other ones in when the at-bat calls for it.”

Wiles’ selection of pitches is one that McGuire feels can give him an advantage against whoever is in the box staring him down and as he continues to settle into a starting role, it can set him up to go deeper into games.

“Because of his mix he’s platoon neutral,” McGuire said. “He handles lefties and righties both pretty well so it puts him in a good position to have success and work through a lineup multiple times.”

He’ll continue to have that chance to build as a starter in Gwinnett as he works towards a return to the Braves roster.