Braves will send off young infield stars to play in first three games
The cold offseason months are finally behind us, baseball is back! The Atlanta Braves will play the New York Mets in Port St. Lucie, Florida on Friday starting at 1:10pm ET. Following that game, Braves will head to the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches to play the Astros on Saturday and the Nationals on Sunday.
Then after the three-game road series, the Braves will go back to Wide World of Sports for a four-game home series.
Braves veterans will not travel with the team to open up Spring Training. Freddie Freeman, Nick Markakis, Ender Inciarte, Tyler Flowers and Kurt Suzuki all stay home.
Who is traveling with the team? Let’s find out…
Catchers
Alex Jackson
Kade Scivicque
William Contreras
Rob Brantly
Infielders
Ozzie Albies
Dansby Swanson
Johan Camargo
Rio Ruiz
Austin Riley
Sean Kazmar
Ray-Patrick Didder
Christian Colon
Outfielders
Lane Adams
Dustin Peterson
Danny Santana
Cristian Pache
Starting Pitchers
Matt Wisler
Sean Newcomb
Scott Kazmir
Relief Pitchers
Jesse Biddle LHP
Rex Brothers LHP
Sam Freeman LHP
Anyelo Gomez RHP
Josh Graham RHP
Adam McCreery LHP
Akeel Morris RHP
Miguel Socolovich RHP
Chase Whitley RHP
Braves manager Brian Snitker told media that the plan is to play no player more than twice on this trip. This could get kinda interesting with only bringing four outfielders. The Braves have mentioned giving Rio Ruiz an opportunity in left field so I’m guessing we’ll see that at some point this weekend.
Snitker also told media that his pitchers probably won’t be going over an inning…which is very standard for early on in Spring Training.
“It’s in one-inning stints, but they’re the three starters,” Snitker said. “It’ll probably be eight to nine [pitchers] each day, just one-inning things over the weekend to just get everybody out there, playing.”
Braves manager continued with what he plans to do with the guys that aren’t traveling with the team over the weekend.
“The young big leaguers are going to have to go play, which is good,” Snitker said. “We’re not going to [overwork] anybody. We’re going to spread it out, probably get the other guys [not making the trip] in there on Monday against the Nationals in the opener here.”
On the road trip, the Braves are planning to bring 13 non-roster ST invitees — including all four catchers.
I’m most excited about all these young kids that will be in the lineup over the weekend. You’ve got Ozzie, Swanson and Camargo leading the infield, but then you’ve got Cristian Pache, Austin Riley, and Alex Jackson who are here to impress.
Next: Spring Chop: Braves the Fashionable Pick?
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If I had to take a guess at a lineup (which hasn’t been released yet), it may look like this…
- Santana CF
- Albies 2B
- Swanson SS
- Camargo 3B
- Ruiz 1B
- Riley DH
- Jackson C
- Adams LF
- Peterson RF
- Wisler P