5 questions for Braves ahead of Grapefruit League opener

NORTH PORT, Fla. -- The Braves have a pretty good feel for who will be in their rotation and lineup on Opening Day. But president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos and manager Brian Snitker still have some decisions to make during the upcoming Grapefruit League season.

The Braves will begin the spring season on Saturday when they travel to Fort Myers to play the Twins. They will conclude the Florida portion of their preparations with a March 23 home game against the Orioles.

Between these two games, the Braves will determine how to fill their final Opening Day roster spots. Here are a few of the key questions they are facing:

1. Who will fill the final bullpen spots?

Closer Raisel Iglesias, Pierce Johnson, Dylan Lee and Aaron Bummer are the only true bullpen locks. Daysbel Hern¨¢ndez is a near-lock, but he will need to have at least a decent spring. Top candidates for the final three spots include Buck Farmer, Angel Perdomo and Anderson Pilar. Perdomo is out of options and Pilar was a Rule 5 Draft selection out of the Marlins¡¯ organization. Farmer is a proven veteran who posted a 3.04 ERA in 61 appearances for the Reds last year.

Amos Willingham, Enoli Paredes and Jordan Weems are among the long-shot candidates. It should be remembered one of the bullpen spots could be filled by either Ian Anderson or Grant Holmes after Spencer Strider returns to the rotation near the end of April. So the final bullpen spot could go to a player who has options remaining.

2. Who will bat leadoff to begin the season?

Ronald Acu?a Jr. will resume his duties as the leadoff hitter once he returns from left knee surgery. Jurickson Profar would be more than capable of filling the leadoff spot for the first month or two. Profar hit .380 and produced a .451 on-base percentage over 83 plate appearances in the leadoff spot for the Padres last year. The switch-hitting outfielder had similar success against right-handed (.823 OPS) and left-handed (.885 OPS) pitchers last year. So he could sit at the top of the lineup on an everyday basis.

Michael Harris II and Ozzie Albies are other options. But Profar¡¯s plate discipline and past success in the role seem to make him the best candidate.

3. Who will fill the final rotation spots?

With Holmes and Anderson both out of options, the final two rotation spots are theirs to lose. If either one of them is injured or proves wildly ineffective over the next few weeks, Bryce Elder and AJ Smith-Shawver (Atlanta's No. 2 prospect from 2024) would be the top replacement candidates. This is a huge camp for Anderson, who hasn¡¯t pitched at the big league level since 2022. The '21 World Series star missed nearly all of '23 while recovering from Tommy John, then he spent last year in the Minors.

Based on how things develop over the next few weeks, there¡¯s always a chance the Braves could decide to have Holmes begin the season as a reliever. This could strengthen the bullpen and give either Elder or Smith-Shawver a chance to prove they can be an asset in the rotation.

¡°We were in the same position last year with a couple question marks,¡± Snitker said. ¡°Was [Reynaldo L¨®pez] going to start? Was he going back to the bullpen? These next few weeks will have a way of sorting it out for us.¡±

4. Who will fill the bench spots?

Harris, Profar and Jarred Kelenic will begin the season as the primary outfielders. Will Bryan De La Cruz serve as a backup outfielder? Eli White can play each of the outfield positions, and he will spend the exhibition season primarily playing the infield. The top backup infield candidate might be Nick Allen, whose value is limited to his glove. Rule 5 Draft selection Christian Cairo has to at least be considered a long-shot candidate.

5. Who will be this year¡¯s surprise?

Anderson and Elder were both optioned during Spring Training in 2023. This opened the door for that year¡¯s camp stars Dylan Dodd and Jared Shuster to both make starts during the regular season¡¯s first week. While both of them quickly faded away from the spotlight, Elder was one of Atlanta¡¯s eight All-Stars. Tyler Matzek came out of nowhere in 2020 and Spencer Schwellenbach wasn¡¯t even in big league camp last year.

¡°There¡¯s somebody we¡¯re not even thinking about right now who is going to have an impact on us this year,¡± Snitker said.