2019
Jonny Venters
Jonny Venters being on an Opening Day Braves roster isn't too surprising. After all, he was one-third of the Braves elite high-leverage reliever corps nicknamed "O'Ventebrel" from 2010-2012.
Jonny Venters being on the 2019 Opening Day roster is much more surprising. After all, after going down with Tommy John Surgery, Venters went on to miss 2013-2017 before finally coming back with the Rays in 2018.
The Braves acquired the lefty that July and he pitched decently, allowing eight earned runs in 20.1 innings. The Braves renewed his contract for the 2019 season, and he made the opening-day roster.
Unfortunately, the wheels fell off after that. He pitched in six games that April and had a 20.25 ERA (that's not a typo, unfortunately), went on the IL, came back in May, pitched four more games, lowering his ERA to 17.36 (also not a typo), before being released on May 18. He pitched a total of 4.2 innings.
Venters ended up pitching 3.1 innings with the Nationals that season, which means he did get a World Series ring, even though he didn't actually pitch in the playoffs.
Kyle Wright
Kyle Wright's Braves tenure will be remembered for his 20-win breakout season, but his road to that was certainly rocky.
Wright made his debut in 2018, pitching four games and allowing three runs in six innings. He then made the Opening Day roster in 2019, starting the third game of the year. He struggled in his first three starts, was sent to the minors, and only pitched four more games, with three of those being relief appearances in September.
Bryse Wilson
Wilson's 2019 story was very similar to Wright's. A rookie who debuted in 2018, the Braves put him on the bump for the second game of the season, got hammered, and was immediately sent down. Wilson would only appear in five more games the rest of the season. For the 2019 season, Wilson had a 7.20 ERA in 20 innings.
2020
Alex Jackson and William Contreras
I'm pairing these two together because of why they made the team. Going into the shortened 2020 season, the Braves were set at catcher. They had signed Travis d'Arnaud, who just had a breakout season, to pair with Tyler Flowers, who had been with the team since 2016.
Then they both got sick. With the season starting in the middle of the pandemic, teams were extra cautious with any illness, and both Flowers and d'Arnaud were feeling under the weather. Because of this, Alex Jackson was the Braves Opening Day starter, while William Contreras made the team as the backup.
RBI double to the gap in extras? Not a bad first @MLB hit for William Contreras of the @Braves. pic.twitter.com/vWkbsGMEGB
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) July 25, 2020
They caught the first five games of the season until the actual catching tandem were healthy enough to return. Contreras didn't play the rest of the season, while Jackson only got into two games in late August where he entered as a defensive replacement and didn't register a PA.
Jhoulys Chacín
Chacín has to be one of the more random two-stint Braves out there. First appearing with the Braves in 2016, Chacín benefitted from the 30-man expanded Opening Day roster size in 2020. The righty only appeared in two games with the Braves and had a 7.20 ERA, before being DFA'd for Chris Rusin, who only played one game for Atlanta.
Mike Foltynewicz
It's better if Braves fans forgot about Mike Foltynewicz's final two games with the club. In 2020, he was on the fringe of not making the roster at all. The Braves gave him one final start where he allowed six runs in 3.1 innings, and was designated for assignment before the game was even over.