Atlanta Braves 2024 Roster Projection 2.0

The Atlanta Braves have seen clarity in some of the down-ballot competitions for roster spots on Opening Day

The Atlanta Braves are having a good week - Ronald Acuña Jr. shouldn't miss any regular season games because of his irritated meniscus, the veteran rotation options in Chris Sale, Charlie Morton, and Spencer Strider have looked great this week in North Port, and spirits are high. 

No, most of the intrigue as we slowly march toward Opening Day concerns the tail end of the roster - the 5th starter spot, the configuration of the bench, and the distribution of duties in the bullpen as we head to the season opener in Philadelphia on March 28th. 

Braves Today is projecting who will make the Opening Day roster, updating twice a week as Grapefruit League performance and roster moves dictate. 

See previous versions here: 1.0, 1.5

Position Players

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As expected, there are no changes here.

Outfield (3): Ronald Acuña Jr, Michael Harris II, Jarred Kelenic
Catcher (2): Sean Murphy, Travis d'Arnaud
Third Base (1): Austin Riley
Shortstop (1): Orlando Arcia
Second Base (1): Ozzie Albies
First Base (1): Matt Olson
Designated Hitter (and emergency first baseman): Marcell Ozuna

As you'd imagine, it's incredibly unlikely this changes between now and Opening Day (barring catastrophic injury)

Rotation

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Just like the starting lineup, the biggest question here is what order these first four get the ball in the regular season - who is the Opening Day starter? What order do Charlie Morton and Chris Sale start the season? 

Starting Pitchers (5): RHP Spencer Strider, LHP Max Fried, RHP Charlie Morton, LHP Chris Sale, RHP Reynaldo López

We're sticking with our projection of López winning the 5th starter's job - it's easier to move him to the bullpen if it's not working out than it is to start him as a reliever and attempt to stretch him out during the season. 

Bryce Elder, in this scenario, gets to make a 2nd consecutive Opening Day start for AAA Gwinnett, but I honestly expect him to spend a lot of time in Atlanta this season.  

As we mentioned in the last projection, Atlanta's used at least ten different starters in every single season in recent history, and so losing the 5th starter's job just means the arrival in Atlanta for Elder is delayed some number of weeks or months. 

Bench

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Locks (2): Catcher Travis d'Arnaud (who is more of a co-starter and is listed above) and infielder Luis Guillorme, who is dealing with quad soreness but is expected to return to games soon. 

The final two spots come down to versatility, and there's been some clarity come from our discussions with team officials this week in North Port. 

Favorites (2): OF Forrest Wall, INF/OF Luke Williams

Forrest Wall continues to hold down the primary outfield job in these projections, a combination of him raking (.467 with three homers and a league-leading 1.596 OPS in spring) and his ability to both steal bases and play great defense at all three outfield positions. 

For Williams, conversations in North Port this week have shown that the team really values his versatility to play both infield and outfield, with manager Brian Snitker telling the media on Monday that "he can literally play anywhere everywhere on the diamond. That's good; he's a valuable piece to have around." 

That comfort all over the diamond, as well as his underrated speed (an above-average 28.7 ft/sec) makes him the perfect final member of the bench. 

If a starting outfielder or infielder were to miss time, I'd expect an everyday fill-in like David Fletcher (SS/2B) or J.P. Martinez (OF) to be promoted from Gwinnett to cover the position on a daily basis, but the roster you have gives you both weapons to use situationally and the ability to finish a game at any single position where you might lose a player. 

Bullpen

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Locks (5): RHP Raisel Iglesias (closer), LHP A.J. Minter, RHP Pierce Johnson, LHP Aaron Bummer, RHP Joe Jiménez

The rest (3): RHP Jackson Stephens (long man), RHP Ken Giles, LHP Tyler Matzek

We've seen some movement here from the last projection, both thanks to performance and roster moves. 

Daysbel Hernández was officially optioned to AAA earlier this week, seemingly paving the way for Ken Giles to make the Opening Day roster as the "veteran former closer" role that was occupied by Kirby Yates last season. 

The second is Tyler Matzek, who pitched a great eighth inning in Tuesday's game against the Tigers. Snitker was impressed with both his command and his "stuff" after the outing, telling us that Matzek's been able to make all his appearances and do everything he needed to do in camp so far. 

  

AAA Gwinnett Rotation

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We're going to continue predicting this rotation, as well, given how many starting pitcher depth options the Braves have at the moment. 

Starters (7): RHP Bryce Elder, RHP AJ Smith-Shawver, LHP Dylan Dodd, RHP Darius Vines, RHP Huascar Ynoa, RHP Allan Winans, RHP Hurston Waldrep

Several of these starters will have to double up, working as "piggybacks" to get everyone their work in. But it's a good problem to have and will probably only be. temporary thing until Atlanta needs one (or more) to take some major league starts. 

As much as we want to clarify to not pay any attention to the order (other than Elder getting the Opening Day start for Gwinnett), there's been some belief among members of the media that AJ Smith-Shawver might actually be the preferred call-up when you need a 6th starter over Elder, owing to the improvement the youngster's shown with his fastball velocity and overall command. 

Injured list (3): RHP Ian Anderson (starter), RHP Penn Murfee (reliever), LHP Angel Perdomo (reliever)

How would you configure the Braves roster? Let us know!