Elder reeked of pitchability in 2023 as he came out of nowhere to provide Atlanta with some much-needed innings and out-pitched his stuff. In 2024, he simply reeked. Elder is normally a high ground-ball rate pitcher, but he left too many balls up, and the league hit eight homers off him in 49.2 innings of work, which pushed his ERA up and pushed him up the road on I-85 to Gwinnett to work most of the season. Elder pitched better in Triple-A but will be coming to camp competing with multiple names who have better stuff. Since Elder's fastball is a poor pitch by both velocity and stuff measures, his success is wholly contingent upon his ability to keep the ball on the ground and to stay out of fastball counts. He showed that is possible in 2023 when he was at his best, but 2024 also reminded us how fine a line pitchers of this build must walk. NL Only leaguers should keep an eye on Elder for the depth purposes and spot starts, but not fill out a rotation with him as he is unlikely to work a big load this season with Atlanta. Read Past Outlooks