⚾ AGAINST ALL ODDS: From a forgotten name to a man who refused to quit, Kevin Herget’s 2025 journey with the Braves is a story of quiet persistence in a game that rarely forgives. He threw only one inning — but in that brief moment stood the weight of a career built on resilience, late-night bus rides, and one last shot at the dream. Baseball doesn’t always crown the stars; sometimes, it honors those who fight just to stay on the field.

In 2024, the Braves used a journeyman reliever named Jimmy Herget for a grand total of eight appearances and 12 1/3 innings. In 2025, the Braves used a journeyman reliever named Kevin Herget for a grand total of one appearance and one inning. In 2026, maybe they won’t use any Hergets, or maybe they’ll hire former pitcher and coach Matt Herges for some kind of organizational role. We’ll see.

How acquired

Listing Herget’s transaction history could be longer than the rest of this post. He was drafted in the 39th round of the 2013 MLB draft, played in independent ball after hitting minor league free agency without making the majors, signed with Cleveland, was released and played in independent ball again, and then bounced around as a Quad-A arm with the Rays, Reds, and Brewers. The Mets claimed him off waivers after the 2024 season ended, and he made one big league appearance for them before catching another DFA, after which the Braves claimed him.

What were the expectations?

Before the 2025 season, Herget had essentially settled into a long relief depth role, as he was called upon to throw sporadic, multi-inning relief stints by the Rays, Reds, and Brewers in each of the last three seasons, respectively. In total, he had amassed 42 2/3 innings across 24 appearances, with a very “oh yeah that’s why this guy lives on the waiver wire” 109/97/120 line (ERA-/FIP-/xFIP-). The relative lack of homers gave him a tally of 0.2 fWAR for his efforts, but as you can tell by his xFIP and his inability to stick, no one was really buying it.

Basically, he was sopped up by the Braves as another team needing a break-glass-in-case-we-need-someone-to-throw-a-low-leverage-inning-or-three, but there was no reason to think he was anything other than replacement level.

2025 Results

Herget hung out in Triple-A Gwinnett for a while after the Braves claimed him, pitching to a pretty nondescript line for a 34-year-old pitching at that level for the eighth year. He got the call to the big league squad in late June, and appeared in a single game where he pitched the top of the ninth with a 4-0 deficit. That inning did not inspire much confidence, as he issued two walks, had a wild pitch, and ultimately had to escape a bases-loaded situation (which he did without a strikeout, or any runs scoring).

The Braves sent him back down to Gwinnett, and the DFAed him for the eighth time in his career. He rejected an outright assignment back to the minors, then re-signed with the Mets, where he went up and down repeatedly and made another five appearances spanning ten innings. In total, his 2025 season included seven big league outings, 13 innings, and another 0.1 fWAR on the back of a 68/82/143 line. He was pretty mediocre across a total of about 50 minor league innings, too.

What went right?

Well, Herget got to continue pitching in the majors, and since he went 13 innings without allowing another homer, his career line now sits at 99/94/125. You could totally prolong a career if anyone believed you were a 94 FIP- long reliever, but… I don’t think that’s happening. On that same note, I guess technically his one inning with the Braves was scoreless?

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His pitch mix doesn’t look hopeless, either, with a generic fastball and cutter/slider that seems okay, both of which have reasonable command. He also throws a super-slow change that may be somewhat closer to a knuckleball. But those things haven’t added up to not walking guys.

What went wrong?

Well, that one inning with the Braves was particularly bad, with an 0/2 K/BB ratio. And he had a 6/5 K/BB ratio for the season, along with three wild pitches somehow. That’s probably not what anyone wants to see from a 34-year-old fringy major leaguer.

2026 Outlook

Nothing really changed for Herget in 2025. He made seven appearances, largely multi-inning, at the big league level for a second straight season, and his peripherals got even worse. He still looks like a replacement-level arm that can throw multiple frames to give the rest of the bullpen a break. His journey has already taken him to a bunch of minor league stops, two independent league teams, and five major league cities that he temporarily called a home base, so there’s a whole bunch of places he could still cross off his to-be-visited list. As a free agent (because he rejected another outright from the Mets at the end of the year), he’ll have some say in what comes next.

It’s pretty admirable that he persevered through the minors, made an MLB debut at 31, and is still chugging along through his mid-30s — maybe the ride will keep going.