Spencer Schwellenbach probably woke up feeling pretty good today, but he might just be on cloud nine with an extra $365,752 in his pocket. The Atlanta Braves pitcher was one of the 100 Major League players to snag some cash from the 2024 pre-arbitration bonus pool. In a year where only one Brave qualified, it was Schwellenbach who got the nod.
So, what exactly is this pre-arbitration bonus pool? Let’s break it down. This pool was created in the 2022 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) to make sure young, high-performing players get a little extra money before they hit arbitration eligibility.
Players who haven’t yet reached arbitration but are putting up serious numbers can score these bonuses based on awards or their WAR (Wins Above Replacement) totals. We’re talking about players who are still earning the league minimum (which, for context, was $740,000 this year).
The big-ticket awards come with hefty payouts. Win an MVP or Cy Young? That’s $2.5 million. Second place gets $1.75 million, third place nets $1.5 million, and so on. Rookies of the Year and All-MLB selections have their own bonus tiers. But players can still qualify through a WAR formula if they aren’t grabbing awards. That’s where Spencer Schwellenbach made his money this year.
Schwellenbach didn’t take home any hardware, but he did rack up solid WAR totals. He logged 2.6 WAR according to FanGraphs and 2.7 WAR on Baseball Reference. That’s enough to put him in the top 10 rookies by WAR this season and earn him that $365,752 bonus.
Add that to his $740,000 salary, and his 2024 total haul comes to $1,105,752. It might not touch the multi-million dollar bonuses that guys like Bobby Witt Jr. or Paul Skenes snagged, but that’s a nice payday for a rookie year.
Schwellenbach put together a solid 21-start season, throwing 123.2 innings with an impressive 3.35 ERA and a stellar 2.29 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching). For the stat nerds out there, his ERA- of 80 and FIP- of 83 show he was pitching well above average. Not bad at all for a guy who’s just getting started in the big leagues.
This pre-arbitration bonus system has been pretty kind to the Braves since it started. Remember 2023? Spencer Strider walked away with $1,692,833, Michael Harris II pocketed $576,627, and Bryce Elder added $392,639 to his account.
The year before that, Harris cashed in with $1,361,435, and Strider collected another cool $1,077,294. Atlanta’s young talent has been cashing in big time since this pool came into play.
As for Spencer Schwellenbach, this bonus is just the start. He’s set to become arbitration-eligible in 2026, and if he keeps performing like this, the Braves might be writing even bigger checks in his future.
