In his three-year career at the University of Texas, Elder went 10-6 with a 3.42 ERA (55 ER/144.2 IP) in 39 appearances, 18 starts...All 21 of his relief appearances came during his freshman season...In his abbreviated junior campaign, 2020, earned Collegiate Baseball Second Team All-American honors after allowing just six earned runs in 26.0 innings (2.08 ERA) and striking out 32 in four starts...Entered the draft ranked by Baseball America as the No. 83 draft prospect and by MLB.com as the No. 109 prospect...Attended Decatur (Texas) High School...Threw back-to-back no-hitters in the playoffs in his senior season, a year in which he went 7-2 with a 0.60 ERA...Also played golf and basketball in high school.
2025
In his fifth professional season, went 8-11 with a 5.30 ERA (92 ER/156.1 IP) for the Braves...Led Atlanta's pitching staff with 28 starts after beginning the season on Triple-A Gwinnett's roster...Was the Opening Day starter for Triple-A Gwinnett this year...Was the Stripers starter in their season opener for the second time in his career...Also opened the season for the club in 2023...Has been on Gwinnett's Opening Day Roster for the third consecutive season...Struck out a career-high 12 hitters while holding San Francisco to three hits over eight innings of one-run ball without issuing a walk on June 7...Was one of four pitchers in 2025 to toss at least eight frames, fanning at least 12 while holding an opponent to one run or fewer in an outing...Became the 19th pitcher in Braves franchise to history to log eight innings pitched, 12 strikeouts and one run or fewer allowed in a start...First since teammate Spencer Strider in 2023...Joined Strider, Hall of Famer John Smoltz, Javier Vásquez, and Kevin Millwood as the only pitchers in franchise history to have that line while also holding an opponent to three hits or fewer without issuing a walk in a game...Elder’s start was just the 11th instance in baseball history in which a hurler struck out 12 without issuing a walk, held an opponent to three hits or fewer, one run or fewer, and their team lost the game... First since Pablo López in 2023...Struck out Miami’s Troy Johnston on Aug. 8 to reach 300 on his career...Became the 41st player in Atlanta franchise history log as many punchouts for the Braves and first since Luke Jackson in 2024. Over his final seven games with Atlanta, Elder went 3-2 with a with a 2.82 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 3.39 FIP and six quality starts...In his last seven matchups, Elder faced Chicago-NL twice, New York-NL, Philadelphia, Houston, Detroit and Washington…With the exception of the Mets and Nationals, all those teams reached the postseason...Five of the six teams finished above .500...Elder’s six quality outing dating to August 24 led the National League and were tied for the most in baseball with New York’s Carlos Rodón... Surrendered a career-high 24 home runs this season...His previous single-season high was 19 in 2023...The 24 homers were tied for the 10th most in the National League...Pitched to a 3.29 ERA this year in outings without any home runs allowed...Posted a 6.75 ERA when the opposing team homers in a game against Elder.
2024
In his fourth professional season, went 2-5 with a 6.52 ERA (36 ER/49.2 IP) in 10 starts with the Braves...Split the season between Atlanta and Triple-A Gwinnett, making 17 starts for the Stripers and pitching to a 10-6 record with a 3.73 ERA (42 ER/101.1 IP)…Was on Gwinnett’s Opening Day Roster for the second consecutive season...Recalled by Atlanta for five different stints...Produced a 50.4% groundball rate over the past two seasons, the sixth-highest mark among pitchers in the National League with at least as many starts as Elder.
2023
Awards: 2023 National League All-Star...Completed his first full Major League season and went 12-4 with a 3.81 ERA (74 ER/174.2 IP) in 31 games, all starts...Named to the 2023 National League All-Star Team, his first selection...Joined Hall-of-Famer John Smoltz and Michael Soroka as the only starters in Atlanta-franchise history to make the All Star team in their second year playing...Was the Opening Day starter for Triple-A Gwinnett before rejoining Atlanta...Atlanta won 21 games started by Elder, the second most team victories by a pitcher in baseball...Trailed only teammate Spencer Strider's 26 team wins...Recorded 20 games of at least 5.1 innings pitched in his first 25 career starts; the most in Atlanta franchise history through as many games...Elder's 2.30 ERA through 20 career starts was the lowest in Atlanta franchise history to begin a career...His 117.1 innings pitched through his first 20 games started were the most by an Atlanta player to begin their career since Julio Teheran in 2011-13...His 30 earned runs allowed were also the fewest during that span...Held opponents to one run or less over at least 5.0 innings in 13 games on the season...His 13 appearances of at least 5.0 innings pitched while holding opponents to one run or less are the most through a player's first 25 outings in Atlanta franchise history...Made his 30th start of the season on Sept. 20 against Philadelphia...Became the 21st pitcher in Braves franchise history to make at least 30 starts in their first two seasons at age 25 or younger...He has six starts in his career of at least 6.0 innings without allowing a run, the most such games in Braves franchise history (since 1900)...in a player's first 25 starts...lrv Young (1905), Clif Curtis (1909-'10) and Ian Anderson ('20-21) each had five such starts...His groundball rate of 50.6% was the fourth highest in the Majors among qualified starters...Has recorded an out on 58.2% of those grounders put in play...The average launch angle of balls put in play against Elder was 8.30; third lowest in the National League and sixth lowest in the majors...Opponents hit .207 against him with runners on base; the fifth lowest mark in the National League and eighth lowest in baseball among qualified starters...Eider's 6.80 ERA with runners on was the seventh lowest in the NL among qualifiers...Prior to the All-Star Break, was 7-2 with a 2.97 ERA...Elder pitched to a 2.45 ERA, the lowest in the Majors among qualifiers prior to his last start before the All-Star break...Over his final 14 starts dating to July 8, he pitched to a 5.75 ERA and a 5.22 FIP...Was the Opening Day starter for Triple-A Gwinnett before being recalled to Atlanta on April 4...POSTSEASON: Elder started Game 3 of the NLDS in Philadelphia, allowing six earned runs over 2.2 innings pitched and suffered the loss.
2022
Made nine starts and pitched in 10 total games during his debut season, compiling a 2-4 record with a 3.17 ERA (19 ER/54.0 IP)…Surpassed his rookie innings limit in his final start of the season, but was rated as Atlanta’s No. 4 prospect during the season. Made his major league debut, April 12, and beat the Nationals, 16-4...Pitched 5.2 innings with six hits, three runs and four strikeouts...Allowed a pair of home runs. Allowed back-to-back singles and a first-inning run to the first two batters he faced, and then retired 16 of the next 17 Nationals’ hitters, including 12 straight. Became the first Braves starter to win his debut since Ian Anderson beat the Yankees, 5-1, on August 26, 2020. Went 1-3 with a 4.74 ERA (10 ER/19.0 IP) in his first four starts and was optioned to Triple-A Gwinnett...Made five stints with Atlanta this season. Has his contract selected on April 12 and remained with the club until being optioned on April 30...Was also recalled on Aug. 13 before being optioned the following day... Was recalled to start on September 3 and optioned following that night’s game. Served as Atlanta’s 27th man for a doubleheader on Aug. 6 at the Mets. In his final five starts with Atlanta, dating to Aug. 14, went 1-1 and compiled a 1.65 ERA (6 ER/32.2 IP) while allowing opponents to bat just .181 against him. Allowed one or fewer runs in four of the five starts. Pitched the first shutout of his career, Sept. 26 at Washington, allowing just six hits and one walk...Struck out six...The Braves beat the Nationals, 8-0. The outing was the only shutout by a Braves pitcher on the season. Elder became the first Braves rookie to throw a shutout since Paul Marak in 1990. Started on Aug. 14 at Miami and pitched a then career-most 7.0 innings in that start, allowing three hits and one run in the no-decision... Fanned a career-most 10 batters...The Braves beat the Marlins, 3-1. Became just the third Braves player in the live-ball era (since 1920) to log a double digit strikeout eff ort within the first six games of his career...He joined LHP Mike Minor (12 strikeouts at the Cubs in his third career game) and RHP Ryan Weber (10 strikeouts vs. Washington in his fifth appearance).
2021
Pitched across three levels of the Braves' farm system and went a combined 11-5 with a 2.76 ERA (41 ER/133.2 IP) and 151 strikeouts in 24 games, all starts. He walked 52 and limited the opposition to a .194 average in his first professional season...Named the Double-A South Pitcher of the Week for July 5-July 11, and Double-A South Pitcher of the Month for July...In nine starts he went 7-1 with a 3.21 ERA (20 ER/56.0 IP)...Became the first member of Atlanta's 2020 draft class to reach Triple-A...Went going 2-3 with a 2.20 ERA (8 ER/32.2 IP) and 36 strikeouts.
