Projecting the Atlanta Braves division series playoff roster

The roster rules for this time of year are not the same as the regular season, so will the Atlanta Braves choose to mix things up a bit?

A key element of the post-season pattern for Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker is the fact that he tends to use his horses and ride them to the finish line.

At the same time, he’s also not afraid to use his pitching staff — all of it — in an attempt to get the best matchups for his defense.

Those facts may make for some interesting calls in the makeup of next week’s 26-man playoff roster and the decisions about whether the Braves choose to add either an extra pitcher or an extra position player for their second-round series against either the Philadelphia Phillies or St. Louis Cardinals.

Let’s take a guess at how that breakdown might play out.

Opposition and the Rotation

During the regular season, the Braves were 11-8 against the Phillies and 4-3 vs. St. Louis. An advantage, but not an overwhelming one.

Most recently, Atlanta split four games in Philadelphia (Jake Odorizzi powering up the Phils in one of those) and dropped 2 of 3 in St. Louis (thanks to meltdowns from Charlie Morton and A.J. Minter).

The expectation is that the Braves will start Max Fried, Kyle Wright, and TBD in the first 3 games of this NLDS series, regardless of which club they face.

The question mark involves Game 3. According to Brian Snitker (Sirius/XM interview on Thursday morning), Spencer Strider has been throwing without discomfort, but hasn’t yet thrown off a mound.

From a technical point of view, the Braves did activate Strider from the 15-day IL yesterday (October 6).

That third game won’t be contested until a week from today (Friday, the 14th of October — on the road), so there’s still time for Strider to get some additional healing time. The Braves could choose to go with Charlie Morton in that game and hold Strider until Game 4 or later.

In a perfect world, if the Braves sweep the NLDS, Strider’s return could be delayed until the NLCS series… and he’d be set up to pitch twice there.

Regardless of that speculation, the expectation here is that barring any medical setbacks, the Braves go with 4 starters for the NLDS: Fried, Wright, Morton, and Strider.

The bullpen is next.

The Bullpen

Here’s where things start getting more interesting, but there are several relievers that are mortal locks to make the post-season roster: Kenley Jansen, Raisel Iglesias, A.J. Minter, Dylan Lee, Collin McHugh, and Jesse Chavez.

It is probable that Tyler Matzek and Jackson Stephens also join this group. That makes 8 relievers to join the 4 starters … 12 pitchers.

The borderline guys? Jake Odorizzi and wild card entries like Jackson Stephens, Bryce Elder, Kyle Muller, or Silvino Bracho. In the playoffs, pitcher who throw strikes and won’t walk hitters are the priority… but none of these guys really fit that mold, so let’s put a hold on adding pitchers for now — particularly since we’re just dealing with a best-of-5 series.

If Strider can’t go, then Odorizzi or Elder would be the logical choice.

The Positions

Most of this will be obvious… but there are still question marks surrounding second base and the outfield.

Another transaction from yesterday was the activation of Ozzie Albies from the 10-day IL. He had been there since fracturing a finger on his throwing hand. That came on the 17th of September, so we’re still only 3 weeks removed from that incident and there’s no reason to believe that he’s going to be ‘baseball ready’ for next week.

That leaves us with the following on the infield: Matt Olson, Orlando Arcia, Vaughn Grissom, Dansby Swanson, Austin Riley

For catchers… Travis d’Arnaud and William Contreras. More on this position in a minute.

In the outfield: Michael Harris II, Ronald Acuna Jr., Robbie Grossman, Eddie Rosario.

Let’s count heads… that’s 11 names. With the 12 pitchers, we’ve got 3 slots to go.  So here’s the choices to fill out the bench…