Atlanta Braves Morning Chop

Bethancourt Jersey Number Changing?

The answer may depend on when you ask.  But check out these photos/tweets from the Braves caravan stop yesterday…

…and from the day before…

The official 40-man roster page shows him at 25.

The list of prior holders of #25 is at least interesting.

• Andruw Jones  (guess there’s no Braves # retirement ceremony any time soon – unless CBeth is being moved off of 25 for that purpose)
• Juan Francisco
• Joey Terdoslavich

…but also note that CBeth’s twitter handle is (still) @ChristianBeth27.  Notably, no one else recently added to the club has ever used either 27 or 25, so there’s no obvious reason to push him in one direction or another.

So I have no idea on whether he’s looking at #25 or #27.  But it’s a curious thing.

More Prospects – MLBPipeline Top 100

FOUR BRAVES IN TOP 100

#38 – Jose Peraza
#78 – Michael Foltynewicz
#93 – Christian Bethancourt
#94 – Lucas Sims

This has a considerably different look from the list ESPN’s Keith Law released (for subscribers) a day before:

#24 – Jose Peraza
#47 – Michael Foltynewicz
#66 – Ozhaines Albies
#82 – Tyrell Jenkins
#93 – Rio Ruiz
#100 – Max Fried

His Braves-only list shows that Law is more pessimistic on Bethancourt and Sims, though very high on the others.  From that chart, you would have to conclude that Braxton Davidson and newly acquired Ricardo Sanchez just missed his top 100 as well.  It’s a good list

Catcher Emphasis

John Buck (4). Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

With so many high-end pitchers in the system now, Catching them has been a neglected part of the equation.  The Braves made huge strides in closing that gap this week.

• Signed:  Jesus Flores (minor league deal)
• Signed:  John Buck (minor league deal)
• Traded for:  José Briceño
• Traded for:  Chris O’Dowd

Before this…

• Nov 28 – signed international free agent (17 year old) C Carlos Centeño
• Eli Whiteside had been signed on 11/1, but has since opted to retire and pursue a coaching role with the Giants

New Twist on Yesterday’s Trade

Nice catch by Mark Bowman – I knew about the David Hale/Princeton connections, but…

Next: A Long List: January Transactions Recap