Spring training injury updates: a shortage of infielders at the moment
The Braves are a bit banged up in the infield, necessitating some temporary elevations from minor league camp
We talked on Monday about how most of the position battles outside of the bullpen were either decided or pretty close to it.
But depth for the entire roster will be something to watch - President of Baseball Operations Alex Anthopoulos has become almost obsessive about depth, to the point that he kept Adam Duvall rostered for all of 2024 despite the then-35-year-old hitting just .182 and being worth -1.4 WAR on the season.1
(And let’s give Snit credit here - Duvall only played in seventeen games in August and September, making all five of his starts in August and getting just 32 total plate appearances down the stretch.)
With that said, let’s look at the current injuries on the roster and update everyone on the status of those players, including a prediction of whether that player will be ready for Opening Day (or if not, when they’ll return to the lineup).
Multiple injuries on the grass
There’s two outfield injury questions right now: Jurickson Profar and Ronald Acuña Jr.
There’s also good news on both.
Per MLB.com’s Mark Bowman, who is the only of the three beat members currently in North Port (he has a house down there), Profar is receiving treatment for his jammed wrist and said he’s “very confident” about being not only available, but ready for Opening Day versus the San Diego Padres on March 27th.
Profar being available and without restrictions on Opening Day seemingly closes the door on non-roster invitee’s Jake Marisnick making the roster. The 33-year-old veteran’s been a defensive first outfielder that has been one of the team’s most frequently used backup centerfielders since joining the team in spring training on a minor league deal. If Profar were not available and the starting corner outfielders were Jarred Kelenic and Bryan De La Cruz, either one of utilityman Luke Williams or Marisnick would have been the likely beneficiary of an Opening Day roster spot for defensive purposes.
Rightfielder Ronald Acuña Jr., however, won’t be on the Opening Day roster…which we already knew. While he’s swinging a bat and taking batting practice, he’s doing it with a brace on his surgically repaired left knee. While we’ve seen him do sprints, he has yet to play the field.
I’m sticking with my initial report of Friday, May 2nd for Ronald’s return - it’d be great theater if he was in the lineup and leading off when the defending World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers and reigning MVP Shohei Ohtani came to town.
Additional 40-man depth: Carlos D. Rodriguez
NRIs still in camp: Marisnick, Conner Capel
Infield concerns are few, but notable
Wednesday’s lineup for a road matchup against the Baltimore Orioles in Sarasota answers one of the outstanding questions: Where has Nick Allen been?
The middle infielder, acquired via trade from the vagabond Athletics this offseason, hasn’t played since March 4th, a home game against the Minnesota Twins where he went 0-1 after entering for Orlando Arcia in the 6th.
But Allen’s in today’s lineup, batting leadoff and playing shortstop. Whatever issue was there is seemingly resolved. It’s resulted in Eddy Alvarez, who was reassigned back to minor league camp a week or two ago but has been used often in MLB games while Allen is out, probably backing off the playing time a bit.
What isn’t resolved is the status of fellow infielder Nacho Alvarez. The organization’s #4 prospect in our Braves Prospect Composite, he hasn’t appeared in a game since being removed from a February 27th matchup against the Washington Nationals with a wrist issue.2
Let’s group catcher Sean Murphy in here, as well. The backstop’s confirmed to be missing Opening Day with a broken rib, suffered at the hands of a hit-by-pitch two weeks ago. While there’s been no updates on his status other than some quotes given to the AJC’s Gabriel Burns about his frustration with being injured, as far as we know the original four-to-six week timeline is still in play here.
It’s important to note that the timeline was from the February 28th injury, not from Opening Day.
Top prospect Drake Baldwin is expected to open the season as the starter, with defensive-minded Chadwick Tromp as his backup. Depending on how well Baldwin hits to start the year, as well as if there’s available at-bats to give him in the majors, he’ll either stay with Atlanta when Murphy returns or return to AAA Gwinnett to continue developing behind the plate.
Additional 40-man depth: MI Christian Cairo (R5), Util Luke Williams
NRIs still in camp: C Curt Casali, C Sandy León, 1B Garrett Cooper, MI Luke Waddell
The pitching staff’s remarkably healthy
*frantically knocking on every single bit of wood in my home office*
While it feels like the Braves lose a member of the rotation every spring to something, they’re remarkably healthy at the moment.
The only exception is another known scenario, Spencer Strider. Recovering from internal brace surgery to stabilize a “compromised” UCL last spring, the flamethrower has been pitching live BP recently and is angling to get into a spring training game before the Braves depart Florida for their final warm-up exhibitions in Arizona prior to Opening Day.
The AJC’s Ken Seguira, in North Port rotating in for beat writer Justin Toscano, reported last week that Strider was just as filthy as ever in those live ABs. Strider pitched two innings, throwing to Acuña and second baseman Ozzie Albies.
“After waving at a breaking pitch for the third strike in one at-bat, Albies walked out of the batter’s box with a five-star review: “That was nasty.” The two put one ball in play with solid contact.”
Strider finished the seven ABs with four strikeouts, one walk, and several whiffs.
While we don’t have an official timeline on his return, it feels like it should be shortly after the season starts.
And remarkably, no other Braves pitcher is dealing with an injury that we know of.
Let’s hope that continues.
If you were curious, yes that was the worst bWAR mark on the entire roster, with Bryce Elder following at -0.7 WAR and both Hurston Waldrep and since-DFA’d Allan Winans at -0.6 WAR.
Of note, he also didn’t play any shortstop in any of his first three appearances of the season, either, so he may now permanently be a 3B/2B or that may have been in deference to the position battle between Allen and Rule 5 selection Cairo for the backup infield job.