Previewing Atlanta's position battles this spring

The Atlanta Braves have several options at both their middle infield spot and their final outfield spot

The Atlanta Braves don’t really have a lot of playing time up for grabs as compared to the average MLB team.

Given the unusually high number of long-term deals on the roster - seven starting position players are under control for the 2027 season - we know eight of the nine defensive starters to open the year:

C: Sean Murphy
1B: Matt Olson
2B: Ozzie Albies
SS: Orlando Arcia
3B: Austin Riley
LF: Jurickson Profar
CF: Michael Harris II
RF: ???

And that right field job is only open because Ronald Acuña Jr. won’t be on the Opening Day roster as he continues his work to come back from a torn ACL. He’s targeting a return on May 2nd at home versus the Los Angeles Dodgers, although he admitted in camp that it’s ultimately up to the training staff and he’ll abide by their wishes. He called his knee “90-95%” healed, as of now.

So let’s look at the right field job and the backup infield spots - who is in the running and who are the favorites, as of now?

A healthy Jarred Kelenic is the frontrunner in right field

There’s a new caveat that we previously didn’t have on the young outfielder.

Talking to the media from North Port on Sunday, Kelenic admitted that he was banged up at times last season - nothing severe, more of an accumulation of wear and tear from a full season - but it’s a partial explainer why he was unable to hold off. Ramón Laureano for playing time down the stretch.

While Kelenic played in 131 games last season, he got just nine starts in the month of September as Laureano became an everyday player for Atlanta down the stretch.

But when talking to the media after the signing of Jurickson Profar to play left field, president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos told us that Kelenic was the favorite to be the starter while Ronald was out:

 I told Jared right now, knowing Ronald's not gonna start, we're gonna get him a lot of reps in right field. He's got the range and the arm strength to play all three (outfield positions) and obviously he's played a lot of left field and he knows he can back up in center and so on. Guys like Bryan De La Cruz will come in and compete as well, but he (De La Cruz) has options. We'll see if some other guys come into camp, if we bring anybody else in, but, we'll have those two and it'll be a competition for right field. Jared will have every opportunity to be that guy with the defense and the left handed bat, but he knows that he's going to have to earn it and then we'll make those calls.

(Kelenic also has minor league options and absolutely could be sent down if his production cratered in 2025.)

Let’s look at the options in camp for the two remaining outfield spots and handicap the odds of each player making the Opening Day roster.

Jarred Kelenic: 100% odds. Barring an injury, Kelenic’s on the roster. AA told us last year (in the post-WC press conference) that they like Kelenic’s ability to play all three defensive spots, run the bases, and serve as a lefty bat off the bench. A 4th outfielder feels like his floor at this point.

Bryan De La Cruz: 40% odds. This is entirely based on Kelenic’s offense early. BDLC has options, so Gwinnett makes sense for him to start the year, but if Kelenic struggles offensively in spring, the plan may be to keep both outfielders as a platoon situation - BDLC has a career .270 batting average against lefties, 24 points better than against righties and roughly the same sort of platoon split that Kelenic has for righties (28 points).

Eli White: 40% odds. Despite the equal odds to BDLC, this isn’t a one-or-the-other situation. White doesn’t have any minor-league options remaining, but he’s also a much better defensive option than BDLC and he’s going to be working on his infield defense¹ in an effort to be more versatile and stick as the last man on the bench. I’ve got White and Luke Williams in the same bucket for a roster spot if he doesn’t win the backup outfielder job.

Carlos Rodriguez: 2% odds. This feels incredibly unlikely - signed as a minor league free agent but given a 40-man roster spot, Rodriguez has never played in the majors and is seen as just an average defender in enter. He’s got good contact skills and plate discipline, but minimal power and seems to be a low-floor “defense and speed” guy with just above-average levels of both. He’s likely destined to be Gwinnett’s centerfielder to start 2025. Has two placements (37 and 30) on the Braves Prospect Composite.

Conner Capel: 5% odds. The former Reds outfielder has average speed and defense but exceptional arm strength and some major league experience - 59 games across parts of three seasons. He feels like an insurance policy were there to be an injury in spring.

Jake Marisnick: 3% odds. Marisnick’s the insurance policy to the insurance policy. A veteran of twelve organizations and nine major league teams, he’s a glove-first outfielder without much offensive upside to speak of on a team that has several dependable defenders who either have more offensive capability (Harris, Kelenic) or more defensive versatility (White). He’s likely in the first wave of cuts over to minor league camp, barring injury.²

Middle infield - this could go any number of ways

I’m one of those folks who doesn’t expect anyone to unseat Orlando Arcia as the starting shortstop, but the battle behind him and oft-injured Ozzie Albies will be interesting to watch.

Let’s run through the options:

Nacho Alvarez: 15% odds. I’ve talked about him at length, but let’s clarify this: He’s a future big leaguer, just not to open the season. With all of your starters set in marker on the lineup card (dry erase marker for Arcia), there’s no reason to leave him on the MLB bench and give him ten innings a week in the field when he can be playing in Gwinnett every day and answering the shortstop question.

Nick Allen: 50% odds. Acquired via trade from the Athletics, Allen’s a defensively sound defender with experience all over the infield but very little track record of offensive success in the majors across his 247 career games. Even if he sticks on the roster, which feels likely as of now, there’s nothing here that would make me think he’s not replaceable should someone else come free at either end-of-spring cuts or during the season.

Eddy Alvarez: 12% odds. Allen, but with less MLB experience (62 games) but more time on the grass than Allen (796 innings to Allen’s 19). He’s in that same “last man on the bench” competition role as Luke Williams but without the advantage of having been on Atlanta’s roster for a majority of the last two seasons.

José Devers: 1% odds. The former Marlins prospect is Alvarez, but with even less experience in the majors (24 games) or versatility (infield only). The reason he has a shot here is he’s considered to defensively be the best of the three and there’s always the possibility that a new organization does something for the former organizational top ten prospect (2021, Baseball America).

Luke Waddell: 1% odds. The former Georgia Tech product has 18 career homers in 311 career minor league games, but has also only hit .259 with 46 stolen bases across parts of four seasons in Atlanta’s organization.³

He’s exceptionally unlikely to debut in the majors at all, but is bound to be the final man on the bench as a utility option if he ever makes it. Currently has only one placement (37th, Baseball America) on the Braves prospect composite.

Luke Williams: 15% odds. 182 career MLB games has told us a lot about Luke Williams - he’s not a great hitter, not an exceptional defender, and isn’t your primary pinch-runner option. Yet, teams keep giving him opportunities. He’s either a great clubhouse guy or has some dirt on a few MLB general managers.

So, who makes the Opening Day roster?

Here’s the thing to understand: AA told us on Friday that Atlanta’s bench isn’t like a conventional bench, simply because of how seldomly the Braves rotate their starters.

“What we've really paid attention to is guys that are great in the clubhouse, guys that accept their role, guys that can cover you at (multiple) spots […]  The bench role (in Atlanta), assuming health, is coming in late, maybe coming to try to steal a base, giving a guy a day (off).”

So with that being said, here’s my prediction as of now, just going off of tools and ability to contribute in those specific moments:

Bench:

Backup catcher: Chadwick Tromp or Curt Casali - we broke that down here
Infielder: Nick Allen - “give a guy a day”
Outfielder: Eli White - designated pinch runner, defensive replacement
Utility: Luke Williams - backup pinch runner and emergency coverage anywhere

1. White was a shortstop at Clemson but moved to the outfield after getting drafted. He still kept filling in on the dirt, though, including playing three innings at second base for Atlanta last year in a defensive switch-type situation.

2. Also wouldn’t be Marisnick’s first exposure to Atlanta’s minor leagues. He hit .235 in a seventeen-game stint with the Stripers in 2022.

3. Typically, guys who don’t hit for power and stick around the minors are “speed and defense” guys who run high batting averages. Waddell…isn’t that.