September call-up season can be a fun time for teams looking for a spark from a top prospect, but this year, the Atlanta Braves will roll with what they’ve already got.
You may see a lot of faces in the Atlanta Braves dugout starting next week, but you may already recognize all of them.
That’s because of the manner in which recent acquisitions have already been applied and because of the tightness of Atlanta’s 40-man roster.
MLB rules permit – for reasons not terribly clear – clubs to expand from the 25-man active roster they’ve used all season to the entire 40-man roster on September 1st. Those rules may be changing for next season, but for now… the current rules prevails.
The degree of the active roster expansion is determined by each team, and some clubs have more interest in bringing in new bodies than others.
Houston, for instance, is one team that’s reportedly reticent to go very far in roster expansion as they don’t wish to harm the clubhouse “vibe” that exists (source: an MLB Network Radio discussion from the afternoon of 27 Aug 2019).
The Tampa Bay Rays, however? Bring ’em all in… there is a team that’s willing to use any kind of creativity to take advantage of the rules to try and win more games.
As for the Atlanta Braves… the benches may eventually be filled up, but the new top prospects will have to wait their turn… next year and beyond.
Who’s on the List?
Let’s start with the current active roster (25):
- STARTING PITCHERS: Folty, Fried, Keuchel, Soroka, Teheran
- RELIEF PITCHERS: Blevins, Greene, Jackson, Martin, Melancon, Newcomb, Swarzak, Tomlin
- CATCHERS: Cervelli, Flowers
- INFIELDERS: Albies, Donaldson, Freeman, Hechavarria, Swanson
- OUTFIELDERS: Acuna, Culberson, Hamilton, Joyce, Ortega
The rest of the non-injured 40-man list looks like this (11):
- PITCHERS: Minter, Sobotka, Toussaint, Walker, Weigel, Wilson, Wright, Ynoa
- CATCHERS: Jackson
- INFIELDERS: Camargo
- OUTFIELDERS: Duvall
Here’s the “10-day” injured players on the 40-man list (4):
- CATCHERS: McCann
- OUTFIELDERS: Inciarte, Markakis, Riley
The one additional player who could conceivably make the leap from minor league rehab to the majors is Darren O’Day. In his most recent outing, he threw 1 inning for Class A Florida with 1 hit and 1 strikeout.
His rehab will now have to move to Mississippi or Gwinnett next due to weather considerations… but either way, the minor league season is coming to an end and O’Day’s disposition will have to be adjudicated soon… which could mean needing to create a roster spot for him.
If the Braves decide that a healthy O’Day is better than another reliever already on the 40-man roster (candidates might include Anthony Swarzak or another player with an expiring contract who isn’t in the Braves’ plans after 2019), then that change would need to be made.
Veteran Presences
Otherwise… see anyone that the team definitely could do without? Anyone who won’t be a useful contributor down the stretch?
That’s the good news… virtually everyone who has been plugged in to a spot has produced for Atlanta this Summer. September then brings them all together for a bench that no other contender can rival right now.
So the implications are…
- Just about everyone on the 40-man list could be brought in, but…
- Possible omissions: many of the Gwinnett pitchers on the 40-man… simply because there’s not going to be very many innings for them (excepting a possible spot start for Wright).
- As for AAA starters: anyone that the team thinks might need such a stint will likely be assigned to North Port to stay stretched out.
- Minter and Sobotka could be candidates for an extended bullpen; however, O’Day is still likely to be the first option.
- Alex Jackson could be brought in simply because of the fragility of the major league catchers, but ideally, his primary role would be to learn more from each of them.
- Cristian Pache? Ian Anderson? Drew Waters? Other top prospects? Not going to happen. None of these are yet on the 40-man list and someone would have to be dropped off before they could be added.
We’ll have to wait to see more of those guys next February in Spring Training.
In the meantime, though, the active roster expansion period does permit the Braves to continue expanding their bench as players return from the Injured List.
It also continues to allows the depth of this lineup to be strengthened as we proceed through the September schedule – which features a lot of contending NL East rivals.
We may not see some of the kids we’d like to see this Fall, but there will be plenty of time for that to happen in the years to come. Right now the priority is winning.