For the most part, the Atlanta Braves' lineup is set and most of the bench, at minimum, has a pretty small pool of candidates the team is choosing from. Eli White has seemingly seized the opportunity to be Atlanta's go-to utility guy on the bench and Nick Allen has made a strong impression as well. With the Braves' outfield platoon in addition to needing a backup catcher, that pretty much settles who Atlanta will carry on the position player side.
Unfortunately, that also means that we are likely to see a lot more roster cuts on the position player side as we approach Opening Day. Over the weekend, a couple such roster cuts did come as both Garrett Cooper and Conner Capel were reassigned to minor league camp.
The #Braves today also reassigned INF Garrett Cooper and OF Conner Capel to minor league camp. Atlanta now has 37 players in camp.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) March 17, 2025
Braves send Garrett Cooper and Conner Capel to minor league camp in latest roster cuts
Starting with Capel, there was basically no chance he was making the Opening Day roster. The Braves seemingly settled on Bryan De La Cruz and Jarred Kelenic early in camp and while the team did go out and sign Capel to a minor league deal this past offseason, he was always going to be a minor league depth piece.
As for Cooper, it wasn't that long ago that he was terrorizing the Braves during his time with the Marlins. The Braves signed Cooper in hopes that he would be able to recapture his former glory in Atlanta, but his results this spring were pretty mixed overall. With 1B and DH pretty well set for the vast majority of games with Matt Olson and Marcell Ozuna, Cooper now has to settle for playing down at Gwinnett waiting for an opportunity.
With just 37 players in camp, the next rounds of cuts are where we are going to get a lot of clarity as to the Braves plans. All eyes will be on Drake Baldwin and getting confirmation that he will indeed make the Opening Day roster, but the bullpen and rotation also will be areas to keep a close eye on especially with some of the favored options coming into camp struggling the last couple of weeks.