Atlanta Braves Morning Chop: Spring is in the Air
Welcome to Pitchers and Catchers Reporting Day!
It’s here! The long dark Winter – punctuated with trade wind bursts – is over and the game of baseball is now set to begin as players start gathering in Florida and Arizona to get ready for the 162-game marathon that we refer to as The Baseball Season.
A few quick news items for this morning:
Swanson and Albies sharing a locker on big league side of clubhouse, Swanson No. 80 and Albies No. 87.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) February 19, 2016
If there’s a top/bottom arrangement, my guess is that Albies gets the lower side. Here’s some other locker arrangements:
A few #Braves top prospects sharing lockers:
— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) February 19, 2016
D.Swanson/O.Albies
B.Davidson/R.Ruiz
T.Jenkins/M.Smith
S.Newcomb/A.Blair
J.Gant/L.Sims
Oh, and one more locker thing:
Michael Bourn is lockered right next to Mallex Smith, just as John Hart said he would be when he was reacquired last summer. #Braves
— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) February 19, 2016
So who’s in town already?
Hector Olivera, Dansby Swanson & Rio Ruiz among a number of position players here early. #Braves
— Kevin McAlpin (@KevinMcAlpin) February 19, 2016
Kevin McAlpin is reporting in a later tweet that Jace Peterson has also arrived early.
Grant has also been checking out the uniforms:
A few new/updated #Braves uniform numbers:
— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) February 19, 2016
Inciarte 11
Aybar 1
Withrow 51
Norris 20
Garcia 13
K.J. 24
Beckham 7
Banuelos 50
On Jason Grilli‘s repaired Achilles?
Jason Grilli: "I'm walking, I'm running, I'm throwing. I'm ready to go." #Braves
— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) February 19, 2016
A tribute to an old friend has been added to the field. There is also a uniform patch in the honor of Bobby Dews.
#Braves honoring the late Bobby Dews with a "Dewsy" patch on uniform sleeve and this sign in right field at Disney. pic.twitter.com/fpYKNJ8Bkz
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) February 19, 2016
Ticket Surprise
EXCLUSIVE OFFER for our Twitter followers! Get your single game tickets before the general public w/code BRAVESFAM @ https://t.co/jhy54CgZyv
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) February 19, 2016
You have until 11am Eastern Time to get the jump on everybody else with this code.
Finally, this tweet from our old friend David Ross (now with the Cubs, if you’ve lost track):
Nothing better than sweet new shoes to start spring! Thanks @newbalance @NB_Baseball @NBRunning #FreshFoam pic.twitter.com/uhpUn5gQYo
— David Ross (@D_Ross3) February 19, 2016
Two things:
- He’ll never get lost
- Who gives running shoes to an almost 39-year-old catcher? Isn’t that kinda like giving a microphone to a mime?
Next: Lots of Rotation Questions - at all levels