As with every team going into spring training, the Atlanta Braves don’t have all 26 Opening Day roster spots locked up with a player already. Unlike most however, almost all of the starting roster spots are in fact locked in, barring an unfortunate spring injury. On the eve of Braves pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, we will look at the roster spots up for grabs on the pitching side of that roster. Make sure you keep up with all the roster battles this spring with the OFR Spring Training Player Tracker!
Starting Pitcher
Barring a spring injury, the Braves will go into the season with reigning NL Cy Young winner Chris Sale and right-handers Reynaldo López and Spencer Schwellenbach atop the rotation. To that formidable top 3, Atlanta is hoping that right-hander Spencer Strider will be able to return from rehab from his April 2024 internal brace procedure at some point early in the season. Until that point however, the team will need to fill in two spots.
Team president and GM Alex Anthopoulos has most often sited right-hander Grant Holmes as a rotation candidate this offseason. Holmes, who will turn 29 years old in March, made his major league debut with Atlanta last season after spending most of 10 seasons in the minor leagues, coming to the Braves organization in 2022 as a minor league free agent. Holmes had been near exclusively a reliever since 2021, but the Braves started to stretch him out as a starter in triple-A Gwinnett when the shape of his slider started generating more swing-and-miss and he consistently demonstrated better command overall. He got his shot in mid-June and rewarded the team with 3 shutout innings against Tampa Bay. He ended up starting 7 games in his 26 appearances, including an improbable start on game 162 to clinch a playoff berth, getting the nod just 45 minutes before gametime after Chris Sale couldn’t answer the call due to back spasms. Despite having pitched two innings in relief just the day before, Holmes stepped up with 4 shutout innings against the Mets. Holmes is out of options; if he isn’t able to secure a spot in the rotation, he will almost certainly start the season in the bullpen as a bulk-innings reliever and swingman.
Also out of options is former 2016 first-rounder Ian Anderson, who made his return from 2023 TJS to post up 68 innings in the minors. Anderson has a career 1.26 postseason ERA in 36 innings and a complete return to form would be tremendous for the team. The question remains however if he can demonstrate that return to form. He was never a candidate for promotion back to majors last season despite the rash of pitching injuries late in the year. In Gwinnett, inconsistencies with his release point led to outings of poor command, allowing both walks and home runs. Although Anthopoulos has said in interviews that the bullpen is an option for Anderson if he doesn’t win a spot in the rotation, he has no professional relief appearances under his belt.
Other options include familiar faces AJ Smith-Shawver, Bryce Elder, and Hurston Waldrep. The organization would obviously love for Smith-Shawver, the OFR #1 prospect, to take yet another step up and show that he could be a regular major league starting pitcher. To do so he needs to regain the zip and shape of the slider that helped him rocket up the organizational ladder in 2023. Elder has somewhat settled into the role of an up-and-down workhorse starter, but at only 25 years old with some major league success under his belt it is not unreasonable to hope he can show something more than the 10 mostly disappointing outings he had for Atlanta in 2024. Waldrep, Atlanta’s 2023 first-round pick, owns perhaps the single-most devastating pitch among the rookie pitchers with his split-change. The question is will he be able to get enough strikes on hitters to get him to pitch counts that allow him to unleash it regularly.
New faces to the organization in camp include right-handers Davis Daniel and Chad Kuhl. Daniel was acquired in December from the Los Angeles Angels for minor league lefty Mitch Farris. The 27-year-old former Auburn Tiger has limited experience in the majors, including six starts for the Angels last season. In the minor leagues he was known as a flyball pitcher who limited walks. Kuhl is a more recent addition on a minor league deal. Kuhl is an eight-year major league veteran who came up with Pittsburgh and was in their rotation until 2021. Since then he’s been a journeyman, last pitching with the White Sox last year primarily as a reliever. He is perhaps the longest longshot among the starting pitcher candidates.
Other minor league prospects could be given a look in camp, though no one else is an official non-roster invitee. Right-handers Drue Hackenberg, Lucas Braun, and perhaps Ian Mejia, Blake Burkhalter, and Luis De Avila could receive looks, especially early in the Grapefruit League season when the team has to cover more innings before starters are stretched out. It’s not impossible someone from this group could impress in camp enough to take a spot early, similar to how Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd were able to step into the Opening Day rotation in 2023 thanks to injuries and poor performances from other starting candidates.
Relief Pitcher
The Braves relief corps was one of the best in baseball last year, lead by a career year from closer Raisel Iglesias. He returns along with right-hander Pierce Johnson and lefties Aaron Bummer and Dylan Lee to form the nucleus of the 2025 crew. Leaving the organization are longtime bullpen stalwarts A.J. Minter and Jesse Chavez, while superb set-up man Joe Jiménez is expected to miss the entire season following off-season knee surgery.
Most likely to take two of the remaining four bullpen spots are right-hander Daysbel Hernández and left-hander Angel Perdomo. Hernández is a 28-year-old righty who has been up with Atlanta for 20 appearances over the last two seasons, including impressive postseason appearances in both years. Hernández has been hampered by injuries and having options means he has been yo-yo’d between Gwinnett and Atlanta. He seems lined up to stick in Atlanta, at least for most of the season.
Perdomo was initially acquired on a waiver-wire pick-up from Pittsburgh last offseason, but has since been released and then re-signed. He missed all of the 2024 season recovering from TJS, but when healthy possesses an excellent fastball/slider combination. If he’s fully healthy he should claim one of the bullpen spots. He is out of options.
Newcomers Anderson Pilar and Amos Willingham are both on the 40-man roster and seem to be in good position to complete the bullpen. Pilar was a major league Rule 5 selection from the Miami Marlins, and has been a reliable bulk-innings reliever though his minor league career. It’s been his offseason work in the Dominican Winter League however that seems to have turned some scouting heads he he demonstrated better swing-and-miss stuff than he had previously shown. Pilar does have options, though because of his Rule 5 status he would have to be offered back to the Marlins before the Braves could send him down.
The Braves will also take a look at former Nationals farmhand and Georgia Tech alum Amos Willingham. The righty has 19 major league appearances over the last two seasons, but his biggest successes have been in the minor leagues where he has had good strikeout numbers thanks to a larger-than-typical reliever repertoire of fastball/slider/cutter/change-up. Willingham does have options, so he could be an up-and-down reliever this season.
Left-hander Chasen Shreve was a 2010 draft pick by Atlanta and made his major league debut with the club in 2014, but was traded the following offseason. Shreve has returned to the organization on a minor league deal signed last month, an apparent hedge against injury or ineffectiveness from the other lefties in camp. A journeyman who has been with seven different major league teams the last six seasons, the 34-year year old veteran has seen his average fastball velo dip below 90 mph last season.
If Grant Holmes, Davis Daniel, or Chad Kuhl does not pick up a spot in the rotation, they would be a candidate for the bullpen. The same could be true with Ian Anderson or even one of the prospects like AJ Smith-Shawver or Hurston Waldrep if the Braves feel like they would best served facing major league hitters, similar to how Spencer Strider was used in relief in the first part of the 2023 season before being moved full-time to the rotation.
Finishing off the bullpen options currently on the 40-man roster are lefty Dylan Dodd and right-handers Domingo Gonzalez and Rolddy Munoz. Dodd is more likely ticketed to be a swingman in Gwinnett unless he shows more ability to limit hard contact. Gonzalez and Munoz were added to the 40-man roster to keep them from minor league free agency and the Rule 5 draft respectively; while either could find themselves making their major league debut this season, both would be longshots to make the bullpen out of spring training. Munoz in particular only has 41 innings logged above the A-ball levels.
That brings us finally to the long list of longshot non-roster invitees: Enyel De Los Santos, Enoli Paredes, Wander Suero, and Jordan Weems. All four have had some level of success in the major leagues and it is certainly within the realm of possibility that one of this group shows enough to coaches to be worthy of being selected.
Also in this group is right-hander Royber Salinas, who is different in that he is coming off a significant injury and that he hasn’t yet made his major league debut. Originally a Braves farmhand, Salinas was traded to Oakland as part of the Matt Olson deal, but has returned to the organization after an early off-season waiver pick-up. Salinas’s shoulder injury initially seemed to be something that would delay his 2025 season debut, but his inclusion on the non-roster invite list gives hope that his rehab process is progressing much better than those expectations.
Leave a Reply