27 Braves’ Non-Roster Invites to Spring Training – Here They Are
A respectful hat tip to Kyle Tait – the radio voice of the Mississippi Braves – for being the first to make this full list available.
Many times, this list will be scoured for hints of position battles, players who might be “on the bubble” – things of that sort. For the most part in 2016, however, the 25-man roster is going to be filled with veterans that already have guaranteed contracts in hand – save for perhaps the bullpen. Thus barring injury, trade, or someone absolutely falling flat in March, we do have a better-than-usual idea of who will be in Atlanta on April 4th to take on the Nationals as Turner Field opens its last season of baseball.
Despite this, fans will get a look at the future… and some interesting players beyond that. Many of the new top prospects will be on the major league training fields for the first few weeks of Spring. They will get chances to see what they can do with and against other major leaguers, and show us what we have to look forward to in the 2017-2019 time frame.
Pitchers
- RHP AARON BLAIR. MLB Prospect Rank: #4. This will be Blair’s introduction to the Braves, having been acquired from Arizona as part of the Shelby Miller trade just one month ago. Blair had been Arizona’s 2nd-ranked pitcher in their organization, and slots behind Sean Newcomb here. Blair is ready for the majors, though it is unclear when that promotion will occur. He hits 95 on the gun, but more importantly, he doesn’t suffer from the command/control problems that many other pitching prospects – including those on this list – struggle with. That alone could put him in the majors sooner than later since if there is anything Fredi Gonzalez hates to see from his pitchers, it’s walks.
- RHP DAVID CARPENTER. Of the non-roster invitees, I would put Carpenter near the top of the list of those who might have the best shot at making the club in April. He has the experience and pitched well both for the Braves and the Nationals at the end of last season. That wasn’t the case with the Yankees, but that’s a wholly different environment.
- LHP HUNTER CERVENKA. Picked up in July last season, Cervenka had been with the Red Sox (drafted 27th round in 2009) and Cubs up almost until then. He’s barely 26 years old, 61/225. The interesting thing that we’ll watch for is to see if something might have ‘clicked’ last year. Cervenka has a history of control trouble, but that seemed to improve a bit – albeit in just 20 innings – with the AA and AAA Braves last year. He also showed the kind of “stuff” he’s got, but striking out an average of a batter-and-a-half per inning. Right now Cervenka profiles as a ‘LOOGY’, but just how far he goes will depend entirely on that control.
- RHP JHOULYS CHACIN. Here’s the question for Chacin: is he healthy? He turned 28 on Thursday and turned 155 innings between the Indians and Diamondbacks last season… including posting a 3.38 ERA for Arizona in 4 starts at the end of the year. Why did they dump him? Probably because the Braves needed to have a chance to fleece them again, I suppose. When healthy, Chacin has been very good, and it will be interesting to see his results this Spring, for he’s got a legitimate chance to crack the rotation.
- RHP CHRIS ELLIS. Chris is here for the education and introduction to Braves’ baseball, but that said, he’s also fairly close to the majors himself – likely to be re-assigned to Gwinnett. He is the other pitcher obtained in the Andrelton Simmons trade with the Angels, but don’t overlook him either. He was drafted in 2014 and has been moving up quickly, as college pitchers will do. Control improvements would help his case for the future.
- LHP DAVID HOLMBERG. A former 2nd-round pick of the White Sox (2009), the 24-½-year-old Holmberg has already been bandied around the league quite a bit: Diamondbacks in 2010, Reds in 2014-15. He has still been starting at every stop, posting 149 innings in 2015, including 28 in the majors. Control has been solid up until hitting the majors: 5 walks per 9 innings there, compared with roughly 3 at every other league. I don’t really know what the Braves have in mind for Holmberg, but I would bet on a AAA assignment as a starter.
- RHP RYAN KELLY. Kelly busted onto the scene last season, getting almost 17 innings in the majors. He got hammered pretty well (5 HR in 21 hits allowed over) and lost his roster spot. His history suggests that he’s better than that, and will have a chance to show again this Spring. Odds are, though, that he will be waiting in the wings at Gwinnett for the time in which one or more of the bullpen warriors falls out of favor.
- RHP KYLE KENDRICK. Kendrick has had occasional flashes of brilliance at the major league level… often when facing the Braves, it seems. But he does have 1281 ML innings between 2007 and 2015, almost all of that with the Phillies. He has not been particularly good since 2013 (4.70, 4.61, and 6.32 in Denver), but can definitely eat innings. Perhaps if he’s pitching more in a park that isn’t a launching pad, his HR propensity might be reduced.
- LHP SEAN NEWCOMB. All of the scouts seem to love #1 pitching prospect Newcomb, and indeed, he could make Atlanta by the end of he year. But his path to the majors hinges on one thing: control. I expect him to go to AA Mississippi to work on that very thing, as 6 walks per nine innings is about twice too much.
- RHP ALEXI OGANDO. I like Ogando, but how’s his shoulder? His agent claimed it was fine this time a year ago… and he went out and managed 64 games and 65 innings for the Red Sox with decent velocity. I’d score him with a better-than-average chance of making the club.
- RHP LUCAS SIMS. Did Sims find enough control at the end of an eventful 2015 to resurrect his prospect status? A ‘social promotion’ to AA at the back end of 2015 went okay… improving on a poor High-A campaign, but then he backed that up with an excellent Arizona Fall League. A good spring starts him at AAA.
- LHP ALEX TORRES. Why is Torres no longer in the majors? Because he started walking too many hitters in 2014: 5.50/9IP then and 6.82/9IP in 2015. He’s never had great success there, but these numbers got worse in a hurry. It’s practically a miracle that his ERA stayed in the low-3’s in both years. I expect he begins the year in AAA while trying to find a groove. I’m not terribly optimistic for him.
- RHP CHRIS VOLSTAD. Everything I am seeing about Volstad (29) is suggesting ‘AAA starter’. I don’t see a scenario in which he gets a shot at the major league rotation.
- RHP MADISON YOUNGIER. This 25 year old former 7th round pick (2009) has been throwing very well in relief, but took too long to escape the lower levels of the Red Sox organization and had to be cut loose. Atlanta needs to see him a few times to see if his control is okay, but he could be another of those ‘next options’ for the bullpen.
Next: The Rest of the Story...
Position Players
None of these really has a shot at the major league club at this time… but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to see them play!
- C WILLIANS ASTUDILLO. He’s the enigma. He hits… and that’s about it. I want to see if he can do anything else – I expect the major league coaches want to see that first-hand, as well.
- C MATT KENNELLY, C RYAN LAVARNWAY, C JOE ODOM, C BRAEDEN SCHLEHUBER. I hate to lump all of these guys together, but the fact is this: you need a ton of catchers every Spring, so it’s all hands on deck. Assuming Pierzynski and Flowers are injury-free, though, these are your AA and AAA catchers. Notable absence from this list? Chris O’Dowd, who was invited last year… and PED’d himself out of favor.
- SS OZZIE ALBIES. #3 prospect. We want to see this kid play. We want to see if he can hit some major league pitching, too. We really do. He turned 19 on Thursday… all 5’9″ of him.
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- SS REID BRIGNAC. Likely destined for AAA, but he’s a possible call-up if Erick Aybar gets hurt. Or traded.
- 3B/SS CHASE d’ARNAUD. Will be 29 in a couple of weeks. Chase made the majors for cups of coffee with the Pirates (2011-12, -14) and Phillies (2015). Brother of Travis d’Arnaud of the Mets. Doesn’t hit much; average fielder. Likely heading to AAA.
- 1B NATE FREIMAN. Weird how many of these guys have birthdays within the 3 weeks before or after today. Freiman is 29 and plays first base, most recently with the Oakland A’s (2013-14, though AAA with them in 2015). Could eventually be a bench bat option or backup … behind the other Freeman. Here’s hoping that Freddie’s wrist is solid.
- 3B RIO RUIZ. #12-ranked MLB prospect. Still learning the third base position, but there is potential to continue to see improvement in his defense while showing gap power. Scouts seem to think the power will continue to develop. Had a bad hitting year at AA and likely will get another shot there to see if he can improve on that before being challenged further.
- SS DANSBY SWANSON. I still can’t believe the Braves have this guy, the new #1 prospect and first overall draft pick… from 2015! Everything about him oozes character, and though he might never turn into a ‘star’, he could very well be a team captain-like presence in the future. Let’s see in 2016 just how far/fast he can advance.
- OF BRAXTON DAVIDSON. Frank Wren’s last first round pick (32nd overall), Davidson is still just 19-½, so it’s way too early to require him to have a make-or-break season. It would be nice to see a few things in 2016, though, such as fewer strikeouts and a more aggressive approach (17% walks, 27% Ks). Could start at Carolina.
- OF MATT TUIASOSOPO. Will be 30 this season and has broached the majors 3 times: 2008, 2009, and 2013. I expect the Braves would like to see what they’ve got in Tuiasosopo, but he’ll go to AAA.
Next: Give us a Woot! One More Pitcher!
That’s the group: of these 27, I believe Carpenter, Chacin, and Ogando have the best chances of breaking into the Opening Day 25… but many of the pitchers in that list could be seen at some point in 2016.