Alex Anthopoulos at risk of doing irreversible damage to Braves farm system

Losing Spencer Strider is the kind of injury very few teams can overcome. The Atlanta Braves are one of the few that can survive and still compete for a World Series, and that's thanks in large part to the work that Alex Anthopoulos has done as the team's President of Baseball Operations.

Anthopoulos has built arguably the deepest roster in the majors, but he has his work cut out for him this season. Not only are his players underperforming, particularly on the position player front, but injuries have run rampant. Remember, reigning NL MVP Ronald Acuña Jr. is done for the season as well.

Replacing Strider is not something that can be done with the snap of a finger, but it was assumed that Atlanta had enough organizational depth to at the very least trot out a solid No. 5 starter for the regular season. Two months after Strider's injury, that couldn't be further from the truth.

Not only did MLB guys like Bryce Elder, Ray Kerr, Darius Vines, and Allan Winans struggle, but rookies who hadn't pitched in the majors yet have too. Hurston Waldrep had a chance to change that in his MLB debut on Sunday, but he did anything but.

Alex Anthopoulos' plan is simply not working

Waldrep, Atlanta's No. 2 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, faced the Washington Nationals in his MLB debut. Through the first three innings, things went extremely well, as Waldrep faced the minimum. Then the fourth inning arrived, and everything went wrong. The 22-year-old allowed four runs that inning while recording just two outs and also leaving the bases loaded before Brian Snitker pulled him from the game. Aaron Bummer allowed a three-run double on the first pitch he threw, allowing three more of Waldrep's runners to score.

Waldrep's final line was not pretty. It was only one bad inning, but one bad inning can change any given game. Fellow top prospect Spencer Schwellenbach has had a similar issue. He has an 8.38 ERA through his first two starts, allowing nine runs in his first 9.2 innings of work with all nine runs coming in just three separate innings. The Braves lost both games.

They've both shown flashes, but neither has shown enough to warrant sticking around. Small sample, sure, but they haven't looked fully MLB-ready. That's excusable since they've thrown a combined 62.1 innings in AA, but that's part of the issue. Waldrep is responsible for 49.1 of those in his two professional seasons. Waldrep has a total of 10.1 AAA innings under his belt as well compared to Schwellenbach's zero. These guys simply don't have enough experience, and are being thrown right into the fire.

For now, the Braves are better off either relying on a guy like Elder who has had MLB success in the past, or scouring the trade market for a starting pitcher.

There's no denying the talent that Waldrep and Schwellenbach possess. They're top prospects for a reason, and in Waldrep's case, he was a first-round pick for a reason. However, that doesn't mean they're ready to face MLB competition right away. Anthopoulos is learning that the hard way.

Using high-end prospects in the majors with little to no experience in the upper minors not only puts the Braves in a rough spot, but can wind up hurting those pitchers as they get rocked at the MLB level. Hopefully this is something Anthopoulos learns from not only now, but in the future as well.