Atlanta Braves Minor League Roster Predictions

Atlanta Braves Minor League Roster Predictions

The Braves haven’t formally announced the minor league rosters, but I’m going to take a guess on what the team will do and then will comment a bit on what I’d do personally.

AAA Gwinnett Braves

Catchers – Blake Lalli, Ryan Lavarnway, Braeden Schlehuber
Infield – Reid Brignac, Daniel Castro, Sean Kazmar, Barrett Kleinknecht, Jordy Lara, Tyler Moore, Ronnier Mustelier, Rio Ruiz
Outfield – Matt Lipka, Mallex Smith, Dian Toscano, Matt Tuisasosopo
Pitchers – Manuel Banuelos (once he returns from the DL), Aaron Blair, Danny Burawa, Hunter Cervenka, Jhoulys Chacin (until the MLB club needs a 5th starter), Brandon Cunniff, Joel De La Cruz, Brady Feigl, Mike Foltynewicz, Jason Hursh, Tyrell Jenkins, Casey Kelly, Ian Krol, Victor Mateo, David Peterson, Shae Simmons (once he returns from DL), Ryan Weber, Chris Withrow, Rob Wooten

What I’d possibly do different: The AAA bullpen may get filtered down to levels below simply due to being overfull to start the season. I am not sure if I’d start Ruiz right away at AAA or if it’d be better to have a month of hitting well in Mississippi before coming up, but he also produced well this spring, so I imagine this will be the setup.

Next: Mississippi Braves

Carolina Mudcats

Catchers – Sal Giardina, Tanner Murphy, Joseph Odom
Infield – J.J. Franco, Ryan Gebhardt, Reed Harper, Erison Mendez, Joey Meneses, Omar Obregon, Dansby Swanson, Matt Tellor
Outfield – Keith Curcio, Joseph Daris, Braxton Davidson, Stephen Gaylor
Pitchers – Brandon Barker, Tyler Brosius, Oriel Caicedo, Wes Parsons, Max Povse, Zach Quintana, Britt Robertshaw, Carlos Salazar, Richie Tate (currently suspended), Touki Toussaint, Rob Whalen

What I’d possibly do different: The Carolina staff will have a lot of guys who can go multiple innings in the bullpen, which could be good and bad. If some guys get filtered down from upper levels, I could see them landing here. It’s also one reason I didn’t understand letting go of Jorge Zavala and Andy Otero, who would have slotted well in a return to Carolina’s bullpen as late-inning aces.

Next: Rome Braves

Rome Braves

Catchers – Trey Keegan, Carlos Martinez, Wigberto Nevarez
Infield – Carlos Castro, Luke Dykstra, J.J. Franco, Austin Riley, Luis Valenzuela, Juan Yepez
Outfield – Ronald Acuna, Leudys Baez, Justin Ellison, Ray-Patrick Didder
Pitchers – Caleb Beech, Trevor Belicek, Ryan Clark, Tayler Cockrell, Matt Custred, Chris Diaz (once/if he’s back from injury), Max Fried, Dalton Geekie, Chase Johnson-Mullins, Taylor Lewis, Sean McLaughlin, Evan Phillips, Ricardo Sanchez, Chad Sobotka

What I’d possibly do different: I have Clark listed, but really, I expect that at least one of the 2015 college draftees (he, Lawlor, Graham, Weigel, M.Withrow) will open with Rome, and it wouldn’t surprise me if multiple of those guys ended up on the staff, bumping up some of bullpen guys to Carolina.

Next: Extended Spring Training

Extended Spring Training (along with projected destinations)

Catchers – Luis Alonso (DSL), Carlos Centeno (DSL), William Contreras (GCL), Richard Estrada (DSL), Lucas Herbert (GCL), Ildion Martina (DSL), Jonathan Morales (Danville), Kevin Reiher (GCL), Ricardo Rodriguez (GCL), Collin Yelich (Danville)
Infield – Alex Aquino (GCL), Franklin Azuaje (Danville), Derian Cruz (GCL), Jeremy Fernandez (DSL), Yeudi Grullon (Danville), Kurt Hoekstra (Danville), Kevin Josephina (Danville), Luis Mejia (GCL), Robby Nesovic (Danville), Luis Olmos (GCL), Angel Perez (Danville) Ruben Perez (GCL), Alejandro Salazar (Danville), Danyer Salazar (DSL)
Outfield – Elias Arias (Danville), Sander Boeldak (GCL), Anthony Concepcion (GCL), Grendis Ferrer (DSL), Shean Michel (GCL), Christian Pache (GCL), Jose Pina (Danville), Randy Ventura (GCL), Isranel Wilson (Danville)
Pitchers – Kolby Allard (Danville), Gabino Avalos (GCL), Luis Barrios (Danville), Jasseel De La Cruz (DSL), Jhonny Diaz (DSL), Felix Falcon (Danville), Luis Gamez (Danville), Frank Gil (DSL), Josh Graham (Danville/Rome), Alec Grosser (Danville/Rome), Anthony Guardado (GCL), Jaret Hellinger (Danville), Gabriel Henry (GCL), Jesus Heredia (GCL), Roy Iriarte (DSL), Odalvi Javier (GCL), Victor Joaquin (DSL), Grayson Jones (Danville), Deyvis Julian (DSL), Jason Laguna (GCL), Ryan Lawlor (Danville), Nelson Leon (GCL), Carlos Lopez (DSL), Jhon Martinez (Danville), Dilmer Mejia (GCL), A.J. Minter (Danville), Stephen Moore (military leave), Luis Mora (GCL), Jean Moreno (DSL), Michael O’Neal (Danville), Evertz Orozco (Danville), Ali Pantoja (GCL), Alan Rangel (GCL), Alberto Rodriguez (GCL), Kelvin Rodriguez (Danville), Alexander Sanchez (DSL), Filyer Sanchez (DSL), Javier Sanchez (DSL), Jhoniel Sepulveda (GCL), Luis Severino (DSL), Mike Soroka (Danville/Rome), Gilbert Suarez (Danville), Ramon Taveras (GCL), Bredio Vega (DSL), Jared Webb (GCL), Patrick Weigel (Danville), Matt Withrow (Danville)

What I’d possibly do different: I’d personally like to get a good idea of what the future of the 2015 college pitcher draftees will be – starters or relievers. If that was known, that will determine a lot going forward.

Next: Minor League Cuts

Typically, the Braves have released the minor league assignments on opening day, so we’ll be able to know for sure how right or wrong I am pretty quick! I’d love to hear your feedback on what you think I’ve got done well and, well, not so…well.