Atlanta Braves Set Opening Day Roster For 2017…And It’s Kind Of Shocking

Braves Nail Down Opening Day Roster

It came a few hours late — we thought the roster would be set on Saturday — but we finally got our answers.  The Atlanta Braves made it public on Sunday morning about the 25 men that will be wearing their uniforms on opening day…and it made me do a double-take.

You could predict about 23 of the names that were going to be on the list, but a few spots were still up in the air.

Braves manager, Brian Snitker, gave the idea of an eight-man bullpen early in Spring Training and we thought that would be the case heading into the year…until the injury of Mauricio Cabrera, the release of Paco Rodriguez and most recently Kevin Chapman.

The questions began to rise again about what exactly the Braves will do going into the year.  Eight-man bullpen, four-man bench or seven-man bullpen, five-man bench.

Well, it’s official…the Braves will go with seven guys in the pen and five on the bench.  BUT who got that bench spot?

No, the Braves didn’t sign any free agents or make any trades like most believed they would…they decided to stay in-house and keep three catchers.  Yep, three!

Braves Positional Players To Start The Year

Catchers: Tyler Flowers, Kurt Suzuki and Anthony Recker

Infielders: Freddie Freeman, Brandon Phillips, Dansby Swanson, Adonis Garcia, Jace Peterson, and Chase d’Arnaud

Outfielders: Ender Inciarte, Matt Kemp, Nick Markakis and Emilio Bonifacio

Great for Recker, but was he the Braves best option for the last bench spot?  Umm, possibly?!?

If the Braves wanted to stay in-house they were probably just deciding between Rio Ruiz, Adam Walker (maybe) and Mel Rojas Jr (my pick).  I’m not even sure Walker and Rojas Jr were options since they’re not on the 40-man roster and they would have had to make a countermove.

Recker is on the Braves 40-man roster so this move makes sense in that way, but it’s also strange because they optioned him to Gwinnett on March 21.

So three catchers, eh?  Is Recker going to get any reps behind the plate or is he strictly a bench bat?

The only way I’m making sense of this in my mind is that Recker is a fill-in until something else happens.  He can’t be the answer to the last bench spot, he brings no versatility to the bench.

Our bench now is…uhhh…how do I say this nicely…not very hopeful.

A Positive For Rio

This move means that Rio Ruiz will be with the Gwinnett Braves to start the season…and that’s not a bad thing.

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Ruiz will now be getting everyday at-bats and continue to develop in the minors.  The 22-year-old stuck with the big-league team until the end of Spring Training.  He batted .268 in the 2017 ST with 15 hits, two doubles, one homer, five walks and 18 strikeouts.

The strikeouts/walks comparison was probably a little worrisome for the Braves, but he was trying to be aggressive at the plate to prove his abilities.

The 6’1″ 230-pound third baseman will rejoin a talented GBraves team looking to build off their 2016 playoff success.

Braves Pitchers To Start The Year

Starting Pitchers: Julio Teheran, Bartolo Colon, R.A. Dickey, Jaime Garcia and Mike Foltynewicz

Relief Pitchers: Josh Collmenter, Jim Johnson, Ian Krol, Jose Ramirez, Eric O’Flaherty, Chaz Roe and Arodys Vizcaino.

After everything played out this Spring Training, no real surprises here.

Next: The 2017 TomahawkTake Over/Under Contest

Braves have their 25 guys locked and loaded so here we go…it’s Opening Day, folks!!