Braves aggressively narrowing roster early in camp
The Atlanta Braves are leading MLB in players already sent to minor league camp.
As of 4:00 PM ET on Thursday, there were 2001 MLB players in camp with a team, either as members of the 40-man roster or as non-roster invitees. Only 37 players had left camp for some reason, most of them injured list placements (23).
Of the remaining fourteen players who were healthy but already sent out of MLB camp, seven of those were in North Port with the Braves prior to the roster move.1
To date, the Braves have already optioned starters Dylan Dodd, Hurston Waldrep, and Davis Daniel to AAA Gwinnett, with relievers Amos Willingham joining the trio. Additionally, NRI’s Royber Salinas, Wander Suero and Enoli Paredes were reassigned from MLB camp to minor league camp this week.
Why has Atlanta been so aggressive at sending guys down and why were those players among the first cuts?
Not a lot of lineup questions in North Port
Unlike most MLB teams - the Dodgers are in a similar spot to Atlanta - the Braves don’t really have many available jobs on this year’s Opening Day roster. We know eight of the nine defensive starters already, with only right field a question right now. Jarred Kelenic is the favorite for a majority of the reps, either in an everyday role or as the large side of a platoon with someone (likely Bryan De La Cruz).
There are some backup spots up for grabs, but even all of those have a favorite based on either pedigree, early statements from the team, or money. Chadwick Tromp, who got a shoutout from Chris Sale in the veteran lefty’s Cy Young acceptance speech, is attempting to hold off over-35 veterans Sandy León and Curt Casali for the backup catching spot behind Sean Murphy.
León, who was the team’s homer leader going into Thursday night’s matchup with Washington, spent all of last season with the AAA Stripers and has the familiarity advantage over Tromp. Casali, who is on a minor league deal but has a $1.25M MLB salary if he makes the team, has the pedigree with a very nice career mark of 6.9 WAR.2
In the middle infield, Nick Allen was acquired via trade from Oakland to backup both spots up the middle. He’s attempting to hold off Rule 5 pick Christian Cairo, former top prospect José Devers, and current top prospect Nacho Alvarez Jr. for infield duties.
The utilityman battle is down to incumbent Luke Williams and former Clemson shortstop Eli White, who is working in the infield again for the first time since he debuted with the Texas Rangers in 2020.
But the position battles are coming hot and heavy in the pitching staff, and that’s what we’re really here for.
Smith-Shawver is lapping the field for the final rotation spot
Waldrep, Dodd, and Daniel were among the first cuts from big league camp because there’s really only one rotation spot up for grabs.3
And AJ Smith-Shawver is steaming hard for that spot.
Ian Anderson, who entered spring as the favorite for one of the two spots owing to his pedigree and being out of options, is not quite where he needs to be from a control perspective as he continues working his way back from Tommy John surgery in April of 2023.
And at the same time, AJ has been dealing.
The youngster, making his first start of the spring on Wednesday, struck out three in his two innings of work. He was spotting the fastball well, hitting 95-96 for the duration, while utilizing that now-devastating changeup and his new cutter. It’s an impressive package that, when combined with his top-of-the-scale athleticism, has the capacity to give Atlanta five postseason-caliber starters in the same rotation if he can stick (and after Spencer Strider returns early in 2025).
(As I’m writing this from my daughter’s youth soccer practice, Bryce Elder is looking rough against Washington - 1.2 innings with two runs on four hits, with one walk and no strikeouts.
UPDATE: He came back out for the third, because it’s spring training, and got two strikeouts and then a line-out to left to save the outing somewhat.)
Each of the three guys already sent down clearly have things to work on if they want to stick in the majors, as well:
Hurston Waldrep needs to figure out the fastball. His control is still spotty, but the dead zone shape’s gotten even more dead zone-y - he lost both vert and horizontal movement in his Tuesday outing, leading to him being sent down to AAA camp. It doesn’t matter how good the splitter is if you can’t throw enough strikes to get guys to chase after it.
For Dylan Dodd, he needs to figure out a way to miss more bats. He hasn’t put up an ERA below 5.00 since 2022, with hitters just teeing off on his four-seam/slider/cutter/changeup mix.
Davis Daniel is an interesting case - acquired from the Angels in the 2nd deal between the two teams this offseason, he didn’t allow a hit or a run in his two spring innings, walking and striking out one each (and picking up the save). But he also didn’t look too inspiring in his outing, either. As one of two options at the back of that seven-man battle for the last two spots, he needed to excel to have a shot at climbing the ladder.
The relief picture is still cloudy
Even if you assume that the top five is locked in as Raisel Iglesias, Pierce Johnson, Dylan Lee, Aaron Bummer, and Daysbel Hernández4, there’s still a lot of options for the final three spots.
Let’s try and make sense of this by placing them into buckets. This won’t be entirely seamless, as guys can move around a bit, but it’s our best guess. We’ll try to name a favorite in each bucket, too, along with an explanation why.
Bucket One: Third lefty
Favorite: Angel Perdomo (strikeout ability; on the 40-man roster)
Other options: Chasen Shreve, Jake Diekman
Angel Perdomo, who Atlanta stuck with through his Tommy John rehab after the Pirates cried poverty at the thought of paying a guy to rehab5, has looked no worse for wear after the layoff. Diekman is the 2nd up for me, here, simply because of the experience, but all three have looked good so far.
Bucket Two: Veteran reliever, probably a righty
Favorite: Buck Farmer ($1M salary if he makes the majors; pedigree)
Other options: Dylan Covey, Jordan Weems, Enyel De Los Santos
Farmer’s done nothing to refute his “favorite” status, but this is the most malleable bucket - anyone from here can kick down to bucket three. Wander Suero and Enoli Paredes were also here, but both have already been kicked down to minor league camp.
Bucket Three: Long man
Favorite: Anderson Pilar (Rule 5 status; stuff looks good)
Other options: Farmer, Covey, Diekman, Rolddy Muñoz, Domingo Gonzalez
Pilar’s not going to be given the spot simply because of his Rule 5 status, but it helps that he’s looked pretty good so far in his limited Grapefruit League run. Again, anyone can kick down from Bucket Two (or even Bucket One) so this one’s the hardest to predict. A starter could end up here, too - if AJ Smith-Shawver forces his way onto the Opening Day roster as a starter, the Braves need to either start Ian Anderson (or Grant Holmes, technically) in the pen or trade him.
Good thing there’s a lot of time left in spring, because this one won’t be figured out any time soon.
If you’re curious, the other four moves as of 4:00 PM were three Cubs (Owen Caissie, Brett Bateman, Brandon Birdsell), two Astros (Ray Gaither, Glenn Otto) & two Pirates (Yerry Rodriguez, Sean Sullivan)
León has 0.5 career WAR and Tromp has -0.2, although Tromp was worth positive 0.2 last season.
It’s technically two, but based on comments from both manager Brian Snitker and POBO Alex Anthopoulos, Grant Holmes seems pretty likely to take one of those spots to start the season.
And it’s possible that Atlanta will option Daysbel down to start the season just to keep one of the veteran NRIs.
Have you tried not being a broke boi, Bob Nutting?