Blair, Fried, Sims among players sent to minors in Atlanta Braves roster cuts

With just a couple of weeks left in the spring training schedule, Atlanta made a handful of roster moves on Thursday morning.

The Atlanta Braves will wrap up their preseason schedule with an exhibition game with the Yankees to open SunTrust Park in just two weeks, and on Thursday the team trimmed its spring training roster down to 40 players.

Atlanta sent five pitchers and a pair of infield prospects down to the farm system, leaving the team’s spring roster with 21 pitchers, six catchers, four outfielders, and nine infield players.

Among the team’s Thursday cuts was right-hander Aaron Blair, who had been among those fighting for Atlanta’s fifth starting rotation slot. Blair was optioned by the Braves to triple-A Gwinnett, along with RHP Akeel Morris, and infield prospect Johan Camargo.

Blair’s departure from the big league roster would seem to lean heavily towards Mike Foltynewicz as the team’s fifth starter, but that is still uncertain.

Other roster moves by Atlanta on Thursday included the optioning of left-handed pitching prospect Max Fried to double-A Mississippi, along with LHP A.J. Minter and infielder Travis Demeritte to Braves minor league camp.

Fried was a major part of the South Atlantic League Championship season down at single-A Rome last season, where he went 8-7 with a 3.93 ERA in 20 starts. He struck out 112 batters in 103 innings.

Minter saw time at Rome, Carolina and Mississippi last season, and Demeritte also made it up to the Mud Cats roster in 2016.

The Braves have 11 more games after today’s contest with the Tigers.  We’ll see more deveolopment with the final roster as we inch closer and closer to the regular season and opening day.

Next: Predicting The 2017 Opening Day Atlanta Braves Bullpen

The Braves will open the 2017 regular season on the road at the New York Mets on Monday, April 3 at 1:10 p.m.