Thankfully, the Atlanta Braves avoided too much damage when it came to injuries this spring. While Sean Murphy injuring his rib wasn't ideal, the Braves had a strong replacement option available to them in Drake Baldwin. Jurickson Profar gave everyone a scare, but he avoided a significant wrist injury and the rest of the active roster appears to be in good health.
However, that doesn't mean that Atlanta doesn't have some notable names on the shelf. We have known that stars like Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuna Jr. weren't going to be ready for the start of the season. That became official on Tuesday when the Braves added five players to the IL for the start of the season.
While there weren't any surprises here as all of these injuries were very well known, it was a reminder that the Braves are going to have some tough choices to make as a lot of these guys get healthy early in the season.
Braves are going to have their hand forced early in 2025 as stars get healthy
We'll start with Acuna Jr. as his is the easiest example to understand. Right now, the Braves are poised to have Jurickson Profar, Michael Harris II, and a combination of Jarred Kelenic along with Bryan De La Cruz playing in the outfield. However, Acuna Jr. is going be returning in May, so what should the Braves do once he reclaims his spot with guys like Kelenic and De La Cruz? Oh, and the team also signed Alex Verdugo late in camp and he could be pushing for playing time as well.
With Strider's return in as little as a couple weeks, Atlanta is going to have to figure out whose roster spot he will be taking. AJ Smith-Shawver may have the most upside of the options and pitched well this spring, but he has a minor league option left. The Braves seem to be enamored with Grant Holmes and he doesn't have any options left, but also seems like a prime candidate to underperform in the rotation.
There are other questions as well including can Nacho Alvarez steal playing time from Orlando Arcia if he plays well in the minors upon his return and what the Braves should do at catcher when Murphy returns and if Baldwin is playing well. It is a real puzzle and gives off the feeling that Atlanta's roster headaches are only just getting started.
In some ways, these are great problems to have. The Braves having more potentially useful players than roster spots is the kind of depth that every organization strives to obtain. However, there is a downside to such depth and creates the risk of making the wrong choices when the issue is forced.
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