The Braves made their first cuts of the spring before Sunday’s afternoon exhibition, a 5-2 win over the Miami Marlins. Right-handers Jason Hursh and Akeel Morris were optioned to AAA Gwinnett while non-roster invitee Kyle Wright was re-assigned to the minor league camp. Wright is one of the Braves top prospects, but was not expected to make the squad only eight months after being drafted in the first round of the 2018 draft. Hursh and Morris are both on the 40-man roster, but were longshots to make the the Opening Day roster.
Bullpen
Locks: RH Arodys Vizcaino, RH Jose Ramirez, LH Sam Freeman, LH A.J. Minter
Likely: RH Dan Winkler, RH Peter Moylan
Last Spots Candidates: LH Jesse Biddle, RH Aaron Blair, LH Rex Brothers, LH Max Fried, LH Scott Kazmir, RH Anyelo Gomez, RH Josh Ravin, RH Lucas Sims, RH Chase Whitley, RH Matt Wisler
Unlikely: LH Kolby Allard, RH Shane Carle, RH Josh Graham, RH Luke Jackson, LH Adam McCreery, LH Phil Pfeifer, LH Ricardo Sanchez, RH Mike Soroka, RH Miguel Socolovich
It’s not certain yet if the Braves will carry seven or eight relievers to start the season. There has been mixed messages from the team so it may not be decided yet, but in the end it will be up to manager Brian Snitker. In any case, there probably only one or two spots open.
If there are two spots open, my guess will be that one of those will go to someone who can act as a long reliever/swingman. It’s likely that the team would have looked to the likes of Whitely, Fried, or Sims for that role, but none of that trio has grabbed that spot. On the other side, Wisler and Blair have both looked impressive early on, with both working with noticeably sharper sliders.
The other spot could be determined by how impressed the team is with Rule V draftee Anyelo Gomez, who allowed his first run of the season on Sunday. If the team decides that the roster restrictions that come with Gomez’s status wouldn’t be worth the payoff, righty Josh Ravin, who is out of options, could be retained. His spring so far has not produced good results, he would seem to have the inside track on at least the other right-handers.
If the team goes lefty with that last spot however, that could open up an opportunity for lefties Rex Brothers, Scott Kazmir, and Jesse Biddle. Brothers has the experience edge, but Biddle has looked very strong early in camp and could be the dark horse Opening Day reliever that seems to pop up every season. Kazmir is an absolute wildcard; despite not allowing a run to date in spring, his outings haven’t quite been “lights-out”, but the Braves would love to try to increase his value.
Rotation
Locks: RH Mike Foltynewicz, RH Brandon McCarthy, RH Julio Teheran
Likely: LH Sean Newcomb
Last Spots Candidates: LH Max Fried, LH Luiz Gohara, LH Scott Kazmir, RH Lucas Sims, RH Mike Soroka, RH Matt Wisler
The Braves made no secret that their intention at the start of spring training was to have Newcomb and Gohara win the final two spots in the rotation after Teheran, Foltynewicz, and McCarthy. This is still the most likely alignment, but an early spring groin injury has opened up the competition just a touch. Gohara will likely make his spring debut this week, and barring setbacks it’s possible that the Braves could simply skip the fifth-starter spot thanks to off-days to start the schedule while Gohara gets stretched out.
If there is a setback, the Braves would most likely go with Kazmir or Fried. The dark horse here would be Soroka, who has looked very sharp in camp and has veterans like Tyler Flowers abuzz according to AJC writer Gabe Burns, who joined the Platinum Sombrero podcast this week. That said, it would be very unlikely that Soroka would break camp with Atlanta due to both 40-man roster and service time considerations.
On a positive note, starting pitchers have only allowed two earned runs this spring, on two solo home runs given up by Newcomb.
SHAMELESS PLUG: Soroka and Gohara were numbers 2 and 3 on the OFR Prospect List, check them out here.
Bench
Locks: C Kurt Suzuki
Likely: OF Lane Adams, IF Charlie Culberson, OF Preston Tucker
Last Spots Candidates: IF Christian Colon, IF Rio Ruiz, UT Danny Santana
Unlikely: C Rob Brantly, C William Contreras, OF Jaff Decker, UT Ray-Patrick Didder, C Alex Jackson, IF Sean Kazmar, C Tyler Marlette, OF Cristian Pache, OF Dustin Peterson, 3B Austin Riley, C Kade Scivicque, C Chris Stewart
The Braves have done nothing to dampen the supposition that outfielder and top prospect Ronald Acuña, Jr. will start the season at AAA for at least two weeks. It still seems likely that left field will be a platoon of Adams and Tucker to start the season, with Acuña taking over in mid-April and both outfielders taking up two bench options. With Suzuki cemented as the back-up catcher, that leaves either one or two spots for infielders, depending on if Atlanta chooses to carry seven relief pitchers or eight.
Culberson seems to be close to locking down one of those spots, in part to his ability to play any of the infield positions well. If there is another spot Ruiz, Santana, and dark horse Colon seem to be the favorites. Colon is a career .252/.315/.315 major league hitter, but has been riding a hot streak at the plate all spring.
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