Atlanta Braves: 5 biggest questions during spring training

Who fills out the starting rotation?

Just before spring training started we thought there was only going to be one rotation spot available. But with the injury to Cole Hamels that could cause him to miss the first month of the season, the Braves now have two open rotation spots.

Sean Newcomb, Kyle Wright, Bryse Wilson, and to a lesser extent, Felix Hernandez, were viewed as the four pitchers who were going to be battling for the fifth spot.

Unless Newcomb is just walking everyone in spring training, I feel pretty confident that he’s going to get one of the two available rotation spots to start the season.

That leaves the other three battling for the last spot.

We’ll get more into Felix in a bit, but I really think this battle comes down to Wright and Wilson.

Both of them have gotten a taste of the big leagues and frankly failed. And both have gone back down to the minors to try and make adjustments.

Wright was really good with Gwinnett the second half of the 2019 season and he’s my favorite to win the fifth spot right now.

But the Braves really need to see these two young guys take a step forward this Spring and prove that they can be capable big league starters.

My darkhorse candidate to get in the rotation mix out of spring training is Tucker Davidson. He had an outstanding 2019 season and is already on the 40-man roster.

If Davidson is lights out this Spring I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Braves give him a chance in the big leagues to start the season.