Atlanta Braves AA Affiliate Mississippi Braves Official Roster And Preview

Feb 25, 2017; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves relief pitcher Akeel Morris (62) throws a pitch in the seventh inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 25, 2017; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves relief pitcher Akeel Morris (62) throws a pitch in the seventh inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports
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Feb 25, 2017; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves relief pitcher Akeel Morris (62) throws a pitch in the seventh inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 25, 2017; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves relief pitcher Akeel Morris (62) throws a pitch in the seventh inning against the Toronto Blue Jays at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports /

The Mississippi Braves have released their 2017 roster. How many of these guys will find their way to the Atlanta Braves this season?

The Atlanta Braves have loaded their AA roster this season with pitching and plenty of upside.

Let’s get right to the roster…

Let’s first look at the guys putting the runs on the board:

Hitters

CatchersArmando Araiza, Sal Giardina, Joseph Odom, Kade Scivicque

I only got Scivicque correct in this group, though the mix of backup catchers going where doesn’t bug me so much. I am quite surprised not to see either Jonathan Morales or Tanner Murphy here to get them with this excellent pitching staff, and there was good argument for either guy to make the AA roster.

InfieldersTravis Demeritte, Carlos Franco, Reed Harper, Levi Hyams, Dylan Moore, Luis Valenzuela

I had the projected starters correct with Moore, Demeritte, Valenzuela, and Franco. Meneses will get some time at 1B most likely. Harper and Hyams are perfect backup infielders to work behind what should be an elite defensive infield.

OutfieldersKeith Curcio, Stephen Gaylor, Jared James, Connor Lien, Joey Meneses

The outfield will be elite defensively no matter the alignment. Gaylor is an excellent defensive backup, Meneses flashed excellence in right field in his time there in 2016, Lien is an all-world defender, and Curcio is the type of scrappy ballplayer that simply makes play after play.

Analysis

The M-Braves will be a team that will jump from 1 run on a Tuesday to 10 runs on a Wednesday. The offense has potential to hit against anyone, but this will be an offense that will be very hit-and-miss, and it could lead to some rough nights when a Mississippi starter pitches a gem and loses the ball game.

That all said, the team should be playing tremendous defense, so it’s hard to imagine any game getting out of hand too much as the M-Braves should be able to pick the ball very well and back up their pitchers in that way.

Next: Pitchers

Pitchers

StartersKolby Allard, Max Fried, Mike Soroka, Patrick Weigel, Matt Withrow

The starting five here may be as good as any in the Braves system, and frankly, could make an argument for the best in the minor leagues. The guy that I think is going under the radar here is Withrow, who finished the 2016 season on a run that rivaled any of the Rome starters and got great marks for his off-field stuff as a teammate as well in Carolina last season.

The staff offers multiple options to take the ball for multiple innings if any of those young starters that skipped over a level to AA struggle in Mader and Parsons along with Biddle, once he’s healthy.

Relievers – Jesse Biddle, Kyle Kinman, Michael Mader, Akeel Morris, Wes Parsons, Philip Pfeifer, Evan Phillips, Danny Reynolds, Joe Rogers, Chad Sobotka

The relievers are a very strong group, with multiple guys that I see as future major league relievers with back-end potential (Morris, Phillips, Sobotka) along with others that could be major leaguers in a variety of roles (Mader, Parsons, Pfeifer, Biddle).

I am curious who will be the primary closer in this group, or if they will run out a combination as the organization has done in other similar stacked bullpens? Also, the role of Mader, Parsons, and Biddle when all three are healthy will be intriguing.

Analysis

This team should be an incredibly intriguing team to watch, regardless of its level of success on the field. The development of the starting staff in Mississippi will play a lot toward the potential future success of the Atlanta Braves, let alone the 2017 Mississippi Braves success.

I’ve begun a study on pitchers 20 and younger who skipped a level to move to an upper level (skipping any level in order to start at AA/AAA) as the numbers I’ve found are not going to be favorable to Allard and Soroka, but if you would ask me right now, I’d wager Soroka will have some bumps and be okay, even though the ERA number may not be pristine.

Allard is more of a worry for me as the history is risky for guys that young and their failure rate in their promotion year. I’m intending to study how they do beyond that first year of failure, and how they bounce back. Soroka’s more of a cerebral pitcher than a stuff guy, so I think he’ll handle struggles in stride, whereas we saw last year Allard taking a trip backward a level after initial struggles in order to get right.

I still think both have very bright futures, but I’d caution folks from expecting elite numbers right out of the gate out of both guys in skipping to the upper levels as teenagers.

It should be a fun year to watch in Mississippi!

Next: Braves Minor League Database

Keep looking ahead for more roster predictions today on all the full-season minor league affiliates!

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