Ritchie Reaps SAL Pitcher of the Week Honors

ROME, Ga – The South Atlantic League, in conjunction with Minor League Baseball, today announced their weekly award winners which included Rome’s staff ace, JR Ritchie.

J.R.’s complete game shutout of the Greenville Drive Saturday night drew national attention, as the Braves’ no.7 prospect became just the second pitcher in Minor League Baseball to go the distance in a non-shortened game in 2025, and the first to go a full 9.0 innings. Only five pitchers in professional baseball have tossed a complete game shutout in 2025: Nathan Eovaldi, Erik Fedde, Michael King, Stephen Kolek, and JR Ritchie.

The Bainbridge Island, Washington native struck out nine Greenville Drive hitters while keeping his pitch count (95) under the century mark. A leadoff single on the second pitch of the game was the only hit surrendered by Ritchie who went on to retire 25 of the remaining 27 batters. A walk and an error being the only blemishes on his final line.

Since Ritchie’s April 29th start against the Asheville Tourists, the right-hander has posted a spotless 0.00 ERA and 0.58 WHIP over 20.2 innings. No other pitcher in Minor League Baseball has thrown more innings than Ritchie over that span, and only Zack Wheeler of the Philadelphia Phillies has matched his time on the mound.

Maybe the most impressive stat surrounding the 21-year-old is, of his 27 career starts in professional baseball, just three have yielded more than two earned runs. Ritchie is now 4-1 with a 1.30 ERA in 2025 and carries a career 133:35 SO:BB ratio.

AJ Smith-Shawver, Spencer Schwellenbach, and Owen Murphy (twice) were the last Rome Braves/Emperors to earn pitcher of the week honors in 2023 and 2024.