Handicapping All of Atlanta's Non-Roster Invitees to Spring Training

The Atlanta Braves are bringing sixteen players into spring as NRIs. Who has the best chance of making the Opening Day roster?

Sometimes, a player just earns their spot.

Last spring, Atlanta’s final outfield spot was up for grabs between several players - Eli White, Jordan Luplow, etc. - but speedster Forrest Wall emerged as the winner after batting .308 with a .964 OPS, tying for the team lead in homers with three, and flashing the leather on numerous occasions.

While Wall didn’t last long on the MLB roster (he got into two games before being optioned to the minors in early April) or the organization (he was DFA’d in July and joined the Marlins and then the Orioles) notwithstanding, the point is that he earned his spot on the Opening Day roster through hard work, perseverance, and some impressive play.

The Braves have invited sixteen players to spring training as non-roster invitees: Who is the favorite to claim a roster spot out of the group?

The bullpen has several open spots

The most likely NRI to make the Opening Day roster is a reliever, as that’s where there is the most available playing time. Here’s what the depth chart looks like at the moment:

CL: Raisel Iglesias
SU: Pierce Johnson
SU: Dylan Lee (L)
SU: Aaron Bummer (L)
MR: Daysbel Hernández
MR: ???
MR: ???
LR: ???

There’s some obvious fits here - I like Anderson Pilar to get one of those two middle relief roles, and the long relief role¹ could be practically any starter that the Braves plan to use as a 6th or spot starter.

Let’s look at the NRI options here.

LHP Chasen Shreve: As the only NRI lefty, Shreve is essentially battling the returning Angel Perdomo for a spot in the pen. Carrying only two lefties isn’t something the team’s liked to do a lot recently, especially if one of them needs to be available for late innings work. With Perdomo returning from Tommy John surgery and not yet having faced hitters in games, it’s entirely possible that he starts the season on the injured list and makes some minor league appearances prior to rejoining the active roster.

Shreve’s a former Braves draft pick (11th round in 2010 out of the College of Southern Nevada) that’s bounced around the league, being in ten different organizations. He spent all of last season in AAA, pitching for the Rangers, Yankees, and Rockies’ affiliates but never managing to get into a MLB game. It’s an interesting package of almost equal usage between a splitter, a sweeper, and a low velo four-seam fastball with occasional slider usage. Depending on how he looks in spring (and how Perdomo adjusts to facing live hitters again), this is probably the most likely NRI to make the roster.

RHPs Enoli Paredes, Enyel De Los Santos, Royber Salinas, Wander Suero, Jordan Weems: If we assume that either Perdomo or Shreve make the roster, that leaves two spots for some combination of these five guys and the current 40-man relievers (Amos Willingham, Domingo Gonzalez, and Rolddy Munoz).

Picking one² out of the eight isn’t easy, especially with the complicating factors of Atlanta’s expected six-man rotation or the need for someone to be a long man.

I’ve written in the past that both Paredes and De Los Santos have the best chances of making the Opening Day roster, owing to the stuff (De Los Santos) or the MLB success last season (Paredes), so one of those two feels the most likely as of now.

The backup catcher battle will be interesting

Drake Baldwin, Curt Casali, Sandy León, Adam Zebrowski

Before you ask, no it’s not likely to be Drake Baldwin. As we’ve documented before, AA wants young catchers to get as much development time in the high minors as possible before installing them at the major league level. Barring an injury to Sean Murphy, I expect Atlanta’s preference is to either not have Baldwin debut at all in 2025 or do it late enough in the season to still be rookie-eligible in 2026.

No, this battle is between recent third catcher Chadwick Tromp, Casali, and León. With Travis d’Arnaud moving on this offseason, Tromp’s the favorite to take over as backup catcher behind Murphy - Chris Sale shouted out Tromp in his Cy Young acceptance and the backup is lauded for his defense.

But don’t count out León and Casali. León spent all last season in Gwinnett, being signed as veteran depth after Murphy’s oblique injury in the season opener. While he didn’t impress at the plate, hitting just .181 with a .589 OPS in 79 games, his defense is still above average and he has significant game-calling experience.

Casali is the main threat to Tromp, however, and I don’t expect both to be with the organization at the end of spring. Tromp’s out of options, while the veteran Casali is a XX(B) free agent³, a designation that traditionally comes with three required opt-out dates if not added to an organization’s 40-man roster at various parts of the baseball calendar.

Of the group of NRI catchers, Casali’s the most likely to surpass Tromp if he makes a great impression in camp, although Tromp still has the edge as of now owing to his history and positive rotation among the pitching staff.

Not much playing time available for position players

INFIELD: MI Eddy Alvarez, 1B/OF Garrett Cooper, SS José Devers, INF Charles Leblanc, MI Luke Waddell
OUTFIELD: Conner Capel

The Braves rarely rotate their position players, preferring to run out the same lineup (with minor variations) almost every single day.

Even now, the starting lineup is essentially known before anybody makes it to North Port:

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

This is really a battle for the three remaining non-catcher bench spots on the roster, and not even all of those are up for grabs either. Nick Allen, offseason trade acquisition from the Athletics, is the likely backup middle infielder, while the out-of-options Eli White is the likely⁴ backup outfielder to start the season.

So that leaves one spot up for grabs between last season’s 26th-man, jack-of-all-trades Luke Williams, Rule 5 infielder Christian Cairo, top infield prospect Nacho Alvarez Jr., minor league free agent Carlos D. Rodriguez, and the six NRI players in this section.

If any of these NRIs were to make the Opening Day roster, the most likely winners are either Capel or Alvarez (Eddy, not Nacho), for logistical reasons. Despite a relative lack of MLB experience (153 PAs across parts of three seasons), Capel could find a role simply because every other candidate ahead of him (except for White) still has minor league options.

Yes, including Jarred Kelenic.

While Kelenic is by far the favorite for the starting RF role to open the season - Alex Anthopoulos spoke at length about Kelenic working in right field during the press conference after acquiring Jurickson Profar - nothing is set in stone and what better way to send a message to a talented player that hasn’t quite put it all together than to start him in Gwinnett if he plays poorly in spring training?

For Eddy Alvarez, his path to a roster spot is by using his experience all over the diamond - he’s played everywhere but catcher - to show that he’s a better 26th-man option than Luke Williams. With Alvarez having minor league options (and Willaims being out of them), it’s not likely, but it IS possible.

1. Widely expected to be Grant Holmes after Spencer Strider returns, but I’m high on Holmes being a conventional starter for the season. I think he’ll be that good and give us 130 or so innings.

2. Yes, I said there were two spots here…but the Braves open the season with six games in six days, on the road against the Padres and Dodgers before returning to Atlanta for the home opener against the Marlins. The team indicated that they want to continue the extra rest that they gave the starters last year, but unlike last year, there are not enough off days or anticipated weather delays early to wait on adding that 6th starter to the initial 26-man roster. Last season, the Braves didn’t need an additional starter until the 11th game of the season, played on April 11th.

3. To qualify as an XX(B) free agent, a player had to finish the previous season on a 40-man roster (and 60-day IL placements count for this) and then sign a minor league deal for the next season. The three opt-out dates are five days before the regular season, May 1st, and June 1st.

4. I’m assuming Bryan De La Cruz, who holds two options and struggles defensively, will start the season in Gwinnett but stranger things have happened.