2 months ago, we asked “what bench?” But now, there are multiple options that are going to make the final decisions close calls as the last full week of Spring Training begins.
Yes: even as “Spring” is just beginning across the northern hemisphere of our planet, the Atlanta Braves are about to start their final week in Florida before taking twenty-six players north to begin the 2021 season in Philadelphia on April 1st.
Even as that’s happening, we appear to be no closer to resolving the list of names that will be on that charter flight … and for that matter, you can probably expect a few changes from that ceremonial Opening Day roster regardless.
This week, our podcast broke a bit from the usual format and simply started recording every thought, every concern, and every argument for and against every player involved.
Breaking down the Atlanta Braves bench battles
As things progressed, we can probably break the discussion into 4 groups of players:
- The obvious
- The backup shortstop
- The other position players
- The bullpen
In that first group, there are two names that appear to be floating to the top right now: Ender Inciarte and William Contreras.
Of the bench hopefuls, Inciarte is the only true outfielder among them. Yes, in a pinch, a few others could handle a position in case of emergency, but putting most of them out in the pasture for more than a couple of innings and the Braves might be hurting defensively.
Contreras appears to be our choice as the consensus backup catcher… except that Jake still wonders if the team might still choose to look outside for a veteran for that spot.
For the second group, we also have two names — the players who could play shortstop if Dansby Swanson were to succumb to an injury. That’s Johan Camargo and Ehire Adrianza.
This is probably the closest battle right now. Adrianza appears to be doing everything necessary to win the job, but he doesn’t own a 40-man roster spot… and Camargo does.
There’s also the fact that the Braves know Camargo best… and that could weigh in his favor since their experience with Adrianza isn’t very deep. Our podcast team is split on this subject and all acknowledge that Camargo could be playing himself out of a job.
In group three, we have Jake Lamb, Jason Kipnis, and Pablo Sandoval — the latter of whom really wanted to come back with the Braves this year. The Kung Fu Panda could be the odd man out, though.
This group has the infielders who can cover positions other than shortstop, and thus the separators are more about hitting and power potential… which may rank them in the order listed above.
Finally, it’s the bullpen. Newcomers Carl Edwards Jr. and Nate Jones are coming on strong, while Grant Dayton could end up being one of the leftovers.
But there’s still a full week to go.
So here’s the podcast: feel free to listen to it right here, download it from this link to catch it at your leisure via your own player, or that yourself via your favorite subscription service.
Thanks for checking it out… maybe you can explain this roster stuff to us and make the right choices for our Atlanta Braves.