GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Tyler LaPorte spent years trying not to let the dream slip away.
He changed positions, fought through injuries and kept bouncing around independent ball long after a lot of players would have walked away. Now the Braves have him in their system, and after a strong run in the Arizona Fall League, the 29-year-old has put himself on the map as a real relief prospect.
“It was extremely hard,” LaPorte said. “But when you’re surrounded by great people and you have a strong support system, it’s pretty easy to keep going. And having a processed, focused mindset, a growth mindset and just being optimistic.
“I had an old indy ball veteran, Garrett Granitz, he would always tell me, you’re not that far away. He was a submarine guy, played 10 years in indy ball. And he would always tell me that, and it just kind of stuck with me.”
LaPorte’s road to this point started as a shortstop. He played that spot exclusively in high school and much of his college career at Baton Rouge Community College and Southern, where he hit .377 as a senior in 2019 and earned Southwestern Athletic Conference Co-Player of the Year honors. But at 6-foot-1 and 175 pounds, he didn’t have the size or the bat to draw much attention as a position player.
The arm, though, was always there.
“I always had a great arm and my coaches had always mentioned that, so I kind of kept that in mind,” LaPorte said. “I was extremely undersized as a shortstop, so I figured when I blew my arm out, if I gained some weight and gained some strength and filled out my body, I could throw much harder and maybe make it to the top as a pitcher.”
That switch came with a price. LaPorte made only four pitching appearances at Southern in 2019 before injuring his elbow and needing Tommy John surgery.
He worked back during the pandemic shutdown in 2020, then returned to the mound in the MLB Draft League the next year. His fastball sat 93 mph and reached 96, and he flashed a promising slider, but he was already 24 and still had almost no mound résumé to sell big league clubs on.
So he kept going the independent route.
LaPorte signed with the Lancaster Stormers in the Atlantic League and spent parts of three seasons there, posting a 6.63 ERA and missing most of 2022 with a flexor strain. The setbacks kept coming, including a release in the middle of his third season. Still, he felt like he was moving forward, especially after connecting with Braden Bristo.
A Louisiana native, Bristo was in the Yankees’ system and looking for a throwing partner after the 2022 season. A mutual friend put them together, and Bristo - who later pitched in three Major League games for the Tigers and Rays in 2023 - became a major influence on LaPorte’s development.
“I was thankful to cross paths with Braden Bristo,” LaPorte said. “We threw together one offseason and then the next offseason again, and he really taught me how to go about my business as a professional.
He was the main guy who showed me how to spin it. Changeup as well, he taught me how to throw that.
Big league sinker, he taught me how to throw that.”
LaPorte moved to the Windy City Thunderbolts of the independent Frontier League in mid-2023 and took over as their closer the following summer. That stretch helped open the door to the Braves, who signed him in February 2025.
Since then, he has made the most of the opportunity. He has put up a 2.41 ERA with 121 strikeouts in 100 2/3 innings and reached Double-A before heading to Glendale Desert Dogs in the AFL.
In the Fall League, LaPorte posted a 1.00 ERA with 11 strikeouts in nine innings while holding hitters to a .161 average. He worked at 96 mph and touched 98 with his two- and four-seam fastballs, and his high-spin slider in the low 80s drew plenty of swings and misses. His curveball in the upper 70s and changeup in the upper 80s are still behind the rest of the mix, and the biggest thing he needs is more consistent strikes.
Even so, the fastball-slider combination gives him a real chance to fit in a big league bullpen if the command keeps trending in the right direction. After all the years it took to get here, the AFL has only sharpened that belief.
“No doubt, man, no doubt, especially coming to compete with all this young talent,” LaPorte said. “These guys will be in the big leagues within a few years, so it’s good to test my arsenal against them. I know I can get outs at the big league level.”
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