Building a playoff team out of former Atlanta Braves players
Not many teams would want to even face a roster of the Braves' cast-offs.
After a surprising come-from-behind win over the Cubs last night, the Atlanta Braves have all but locked up home field advantage throughout the 2023 playoffs. It was all smiles in the Atlanta dugout, but former Brave Dansby Swanson had to just watch as his former teammates moved one step closer to posting the best regular season we have seen out of them during this current run of dominance.
To Dansby's credit, he has been a big reason why the Cubs have done as well as they have in 2023. In fact, a lot of former Braves have played very well this season and that got us thinking about whether or not it was possible to build a playoff caliber team out of just former Braves players.
Building a playoff caliber roster out of former Braves players
The rules here are fairly straightforward. For a player to be eligible for this roster, they must both have previously played for the Braves in their career (former Braves prospects are eligible) and also must have been actively playing in the majors in 2023. The player must have also played a given position at some point as a professional, although slotting Freddie Freeman at third base here would break the spirit of the list even if it is technically true.
As it turns out, the following roster not only could probably contend for a playoff spot, but would probably give the top teams in the league this season some real problems. Also, this isn't a full roster, so know going that in there are only three starters and three relievers for the sake of brevity.
C - William Contreras
An easy pick here as most of the players that have played catcher for the Braves aren't active anymore including Kurt Suzuki, Tyler Flowers, and AJ Pierzynski. Not only did Contreras play this year, he has thrived in Milwaukee including being named an All-Star after the Braves traded him to the Brewers in the deal that brought Sean Murphy to Atlanta. In almost 600 plate appearances this season, William has slashed .289/.367/.462 with 17 homers and getting very high marks for his defense in 2023.
1B - Freddie Freeman
Freddie is one of the more obvious inclusions on this sort of list as he is one of the absolute best players to ever wear a Braves uniform. The drama surrounding his departure from the team was unfortunate (boy did his agent screw that up), but all of that is in the past now. If not for the otherworldly seasons from Mookie Betts and Ronald Acuna Jr. in 2023, Freddie could have easily won a second MVP award this season.
2B - Jace Peterson
Unfortunately, the selection of former Braves that play second base and who are also still active is not particularly awesome. However, Jace Peterson fits the bill as a throwback from the days of the Braves' rebuild and he is still somehow still hanging around the league. Since he left the Braves after the 2017 season, Jace has played for five different teams as a utility guy and appeared in 130 games this year. He would be batting low in this lineup, though.
SS - Dansby Swanson
Another no-doubter here as Dansby was the inspiration for this list to begin with and he is miles better than the other active players that have played short for the Braves. Not much to say here other than Dansby is a stud and while there are reasons why the seven year, $177 million deal Dansby got was a bit much to pay him, no one should fault him for taking that deal.
3B - Josh Donaldson
Austin Riley has been playing third for the Braves long enough to make this one kinda hard especially with the number of journeymen that played third for the Braves before that. However, Josh Donaldson gets the nod here almost by default. His 2019 season was a fantastic season, but injuries and Father Time have taken their toll on Josh since he left in free agency for the . He has shown glimpses of his former self at times in 2023 with the Yankees and Brewers, but he is hitting just .157 in 46 games this season.
RF - Jason Heyward
A roster like this wouldn't feel right without including Jason Heyward given that the Braves' decision to trade him to the Cardinals was the beginning of the rebuild. J-Hey has actually had a really nice bounce back season in 2023 for the Dodgers as he has been worth 2.3 fWAR with a 124 wRC+. His defensive numbers aren't what they once were, but he can still cover a lot of ground in right and is a worthy addition to this list.
CF - Adam Duvall
Center field isn't exactly where you want to be playing Adam Duvall, but he has done it before and played well out there in the past. Duvall has been very similar to how he was with the Braves as he will have stretches where he goes quiet before he goes nuts for a couple weeks. Injuries remain a concern with him as Adam missed a bunch of time this year, but adding him to this roster gives the Braves another dangerous bat from the right side.
LF - Jorge Soler
Braves' World Series hero Jorge Soler is next up and honestly, switching him with the DH spot would be a perfectly defensible choice as well. The defense out in left from Soler is not ideal, but he has come back from an injury-riddled 2022 season in Miami to hit 36 homers this season for the Marlins. Soler wouldn't be the most consistent hitter in this lineup by a long shot, but his insane raw power can still take over a game.
DH - Joc Pederson
Every team needs at least one hype man in the clubhouse and there isn't a better one in the league than Joc Pederson. After he left the Braves, Joc put up some awesome numbers for the Giants at the plate in 2022 before seeing those numbers back up a bit this year. Joc is likely a back third of the lineup guy on this roster, but he still posted a 116 wRC+ in 2023 and everyone would love seeing him put the pearls back on for another postseason run.
SP - Kevin Gausman
The pitching staff is up next and Kevin Gausman's tenure in Atlanta was a weird one. A lot of the peripherals liked him a lot back in 2019, but he never could get much going that season and he ended up with a 6.17 ERA for the Braves before the Reds claimed him off the waiver wire. Unfortunately for the Braves, he has turned into one of the best pitchers in the league over the last three seasons and he is the ace of the staff on this roster.
SP - Julio Teheran
With all of those bad Braves teams that Julio Teheran had to play on, it feels right for him to get a spot here. Teheran could be an adventure at times when he was with the Braves, but the guy played his brains out for Atlanta including making two All-Star teams. It has been hard for Julio to stick around the league after he left the Braves before the 2020 season, but he fought his way back in 2023 and has been pretty okay with the Brewers with a 4.66 ERA in 13 games with them.
SP - Dallas Keuchel
The pickings at starting pitcher were pretty slim at this point as most of the guys the Braves have let go haven't been good, so Dallas Keuchel gets the nod despite the fact that he is quite past his prime. Keuchel was another guy that could make fans uncomfortable when he was on the mound for Atlanta, but he did post a 3.75 ERA in 19 starts for them. He is still kicking around with the Twins these days and has a 5.67 ERA in eight appearances in 2023.
RP - Craig Kimbrel
Not only is Craig Kimbrel the best reliever to ever play for the Braves, he is one of the absolute best relievers of all-time. In five seasons with Atlanta, Kimbrel averaged a 1.43 ERA and struck out 476 batters in 289 innings of work. Those are video game numbers. After all of these years, Craig is still doing his thing closing games for the Phillies and is the arm of choice for high leverage situations on this roster.
RP - Bryse Wilson
Will Smith does still exist and obviously put up one hell of a 2021 postseason with the Braves, but the idea of Smith on the mound in a key spot still triggers PTSD-like symptoms for many. Instead, the nod here goes to Bryse Wilson who honestly looked like he could have been out of the league soon when the Braves traded him. However, he has remade himself as a reliever and has excelled in Milwaukee in 2023. In 52 appearances this season, Bryse has posted a 2.62 ERA and gives this roster another very respectable option out of the 'pen.
RP - Chris Martin
Finally, we come to Chris Martin who remains one of the more underrated acquisitions that Alex Anthopoulos has made as general manager. Unfortunately, injuries cost Martin some playing time in Atlanta both in the regular season and in a very important playoff game that we aren't going to talk about because it makes us sad. Martin has been awesome since leaving the Braves and put up a 1.05 ERA in 55 appearances in 2023 for the Red Sox.
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