ATLANTA -- AJ Smith-Shawver's second Major League assignment of this year will be his first career postseason start.

The Braves will start Smith-Shawver in Game 1 of their Wild Card Series against the Padres on Tuesday night at 8:38 p.m. ET. The highly touted right-hander, who ranks as Atlanta’s No. 2 prospect, will be helping compensate for the absence of Chris Sale and the need to use Spencer Schwellenbach in the clinching doubleheader on Monday.

"AJ has stuff," Braves manager Brian Snitker said. "It's not that Bryce [Elder] doesn't. But the consensus was we wanted to give it to [Smith-Shawver]."

Snitker called Smith-Shawver and Elder early Tuesday morning to inform them they were on the Wild Card Series roster. He called Smith-Shawver back about 30 minutes later to inform him he was starting.

Sale will miss the Wild Card Series because of back issues that date to his Sept. 19 start. As for each of the other current members of the Braves’ rotation, none of them would be on regular rest before Game 2 is played on Wednesday.

So, the Braves will go with Smith-Shawver, who posted a 4.86 ERA in 20 starts for Triple-A Gwinnett this year. He strained his left oblique when he threw 4 1/3 scoreless innings against the Cubs on May 23. That was his only big league start during the regular season.

With their bullpen thin, the Braves may have Elder follow Smith-Shawver at some point during Tuesday’s game. Elder was an All-Star in 2023, but like Smith-Shawver, he spent most of this year with Gwinnett.

Another option was Ian Anderson, who has posted a 1.26 ERA in eight career postseason starts. But the Braves don’t believe Anderson has reached the point of his rehab where he’s ready to face big league hitters. The right-hander underwent Tommy John surgery in April 2023 and remained with Gwinnett after he resumed pitching this year.

“It was just the fact Ian hasn’t been in the big leagues for a year and a half,” Snitker said.

Smith-Shawver was a skilled Texas high school quarterback who flirted with the possibility of following the same path as Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes by playing both baseball and football at Texas Tech University. But he accepted the $997,500 signing bonus the Braves gave him after taking him in the eighth round of the 2021 MLB Draft.

The young right-hander has experienced a quick rise, making his MLB debut last year. An issue with a growth plate in his shoulder had led him to stop pitching when he was a high school freshman at Colleyville Heritage High School, which also produced his close friend Bobby Witt Jr. But he decided to start pitching again in the summer of 2020 and immediately drew attention from scouts.

Smith-Shawver’s fastball averaged 95.4 mph in his final Triple-A start on Sept. 22. He added a changeup last winter and limited opponents to a .158 batting average with that pitch for Gwinnett this year.