What will the Atlanta Braves do with the playoff roster?
By James Kunkle
It is soon to be decision time for the Atlanta Braves as they make the final calls on what will be the original 26 players going for the World Series trophy.
The Atlanta Braves start the 2021 NLDS against the Milwaukee Brewers this upcoming Friday. A challenge no doubt, but if the last few weeks were any indication, the Atlanta Braves should be considered the favorites going in.
One of the last few questions now is who will the Atlanta Braves coaches and the team’s front office staff think is the team’s best option to advance to play in the NLCS?
26 players will be selected and I, like many others, believe it will consist of both 13 position players and pitchers.
Of course, some need no explanation and are locks for the roster. I say we go ahead and get them out of the way.
The infield will without a doubt be Freddie Freeman, Dansby Swanson, Ozzie Albies, and Austin Riley. And that quartet may very well be the best infield from an all around feature in the entire postseason this October. Make no mistakes about it, this team will go as far as this group will take them for worse or for better.
The catching duo is no question either as Travis d’Arnaud and William Contreras will share the duties behind the plate. Even if Vogt would have stayed healthy, it would have probably been Contreras getting the nod over him for the playoff roster.
The Atlanta Braves have four more locks in the outfield as well as Jorge Soler, Adam Duvall, Eddie Rosario, and Joc Pederson will be the main group patrolling the outfield grass.
Moving to the mound, we all know who the four Atlanta Braves starters will be and that is Charlie Morton, Max Fried, Ian Anderson, and Huascar Ynoa. I do believe it all depends on how the first 3 games go as to whether or not Ynoa would be used as a traditional starter in a possible game 4 or as “opener” and maybe just try and get him to go through the first 3 or 4 innings. Only time will tell.
Moving right along as we get to the bullpen. The locks there would be Luke Jackson (how far we’ve come), Tyler Matzek, AJ Minter, Richard Rodriguez, Will Smith (Lighten up), Jacob Webb, Chris Martin, and Jesse Chavez.
So all in all, I believe the Atlanta Braves have 22 locks out of the 26 available spots. Let’s get down to the brass tax and start diving into the remaining questions for this roster.