Atlanta Braves: No surprises on the NLDS roster

The Atlanta Braves released their NLDS roster earlier today and there were not any shocking additions or omissions.

The Atlanta Braves announced their NLDS roster, and there were very few surprises. First and foremost, Dansby Swanson, who is dealing with a partially torn ligament in his left hand, is officially out for the Dodgers series.

So by moving Charlie Culberson into the starting role at shortstop, the Braves needed a backup infielder and that man is Ryan Flaherty, who can play all over the diamond. Rio Ruiz was perhaps a possibility, but Big River can only play the corner infield spots, so Flaherty was the obvious choice.

Losing Swanson hurts the Atlanta Braves so much more than just his presence in the field and reputation for delivering the key hit. It creates a huge hole on the bench. Culberson hit five home runs in 56 pinch-hit appearances, while Flaherty as a pinch hitter hit .111 with 14 strikeouts in the 52 plate appearances.

Tyler Flowers or Kurt Suzuki, Rene Rivera, Lucas Duda, and Lane Adams will round out the bench.

Adding Rivera as an emergency third catcher does make Flowers or Suzuki a valuable bat off the bench, so that helps offset the void of Charlie-Clutch.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the postseason roster is the addition of seven starting pitchers.

It looks likely that Mike Foltynewicz, Anibal Sanchez and Kevin Gausman will be the starting pitchers for the series, with Folty possibly coming back on short rest in Game 4 and Sanchez in Game 5 (hopefully). That leaves Julio Teheran, Sean Newcomb, Touki Toussaint, and Max Fried in the pen as multiple-inning guys. If any of the NLDS starters falter early, there are multiple options to choose from.

Shane Carle, Sam Freeman, Daniel Winkler, and Jesse Biddle had bright spots at some point throughout the season and some for extended periods of time. But all were left off the NLDS roster. Carle and Freeman are somewhat surprising because their numbers in September were really good.

Carle held a 1.04 earned run average, .172 BAA and a .179 BAbip in 8.2 innings pitched. He did have four walks to two strikeouts, however.

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Freeman was brutal until his disabled list stint in August. When he returned he became a valuable lefty-specialist.  He allowed no earned runs over his last 14 appearances, with 15 strikeouts to five walks.

Winkler and Biddle however crept to the finish line of the season. Winkler, who was so good for the first half, struggled mightily in September, with an ERA over 15 and a .500 BAbip in 4.2 innings. His strikeout to walk ratio was 6:2. Biddle had a 7.71 ERA and a .272 BAA in 9.1 IP.

I really have no problem with this bullpen. I would have probably switched out Newcomb and replaced him with Freeman, but that’s nitpicking, honestly.

It will be interesting how Brian Snitker maneuvers the bullpen because there are just so many options. Maybe this is an obvious statement, but I think the battle of bullpens will decide this series. The Dodgers have had their share of issues (specifically Kenley Jensen) over the past few weeks, so it is not as vaunted as once was.

We have the rosters.

It’s go time.