The North Port Report: Braves Close Spring Training With a Close Win Versus Tampa

Here's everything you need to know from Braves Spring Training in North Port, FL from Tuesday

Welcome to The North Port Report, your nightly notebook from Braves spring training. Each evening, we’ll run through the biggest developments from camp: roster battles, injury updates, standout performances, and the small details that matter more than they seem in late-March. The games may not count yet, but the information does.

Here’s what stood out today

In their final spring training game, the Braves did just enough to take down the Rays 3-2 and clinch MLB’s best spring record at 21-7-2.

Grant Holmes got the start and ended up pitching 5.1 innings, allowing two runs on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts. He was actually pulled from the game at the end of the 2nd inning after allowing a run to the fifth batter he faced in the inning, which just happened to be the bottom of the lineup card. Riley Frey got Yandy Díaz to pop out and then Holmes came back out to pitch through the fifth without incident.

Holmes actually led with his slider at 31% usage, including an astounding 56% against righties. He finished with nine whiffs, four coming on that slider, but allowed eight hard-hit balls among his fourteen batted balls on the afternoon.

A parade of Atlanta’s high-leverage relievers followed, with Dylan Lee, Tyler Kinley, Robert Suarez, and Raisel Iglesias combining for three scoreless innings with four strikeouts and two hits.

On the offensive side, Mike Yastrzemski hit his sixth home run of spring, tying him with Matt Olson for the team lead. Drake Baldwin doubled twice and drove in a run, while Jorge Mateo also had a double and a RBI and Ronald Acuña Jr. added a double of his own. In a low-scoring game, though, the lack of capitalizing on opportunities almost hurt the Braves. Atlanta was just 2-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 13 on base, although the regulars accounted for either three or five, depending on how you classify Eli White.

Quick Hits

• Friend of the Newsletter Ken Sugiura of the AJC reported that Reynaldo López’s bullpen session today uncovered and fixed the mechanical issue that resulted in his fastball averaging below 90 mph on Sunday. While a bullpen two days after a start is unusual, I’m assuming this was a specially-called session specifically to determine what went wrong on Sunday.

• The Braves made a roster move today, re-claiming Osvaldo Bido off of waivers from the New York Yankees. Atlanta previously claimed Bido off of waivers back in December after the A’s moved on from him, with the righty pitcher then being part of the Rays, Marlins, Angels, and Yankees organizations before returning to Atlanta today.

• Atlanta also announced its first cable/satellite carriage deal, a multiyear agreement with Spectrum. CEO Derek Schiller, speaking to media members during a Truist Park open house today, indicated that several other deals would be coming over the next few days.

Observation of the Day

We finally saw the fully armed and operational lineup today, which the Braves will roll out for the first part of the season when they face right-handed pitching.

RF Ronald Acuña Jr.
C Drake Baldwin
1B Matt Olson
3B Austin Riley
LF Mike Yastrzemski
2B Ozzie Albies
DH Dominic Smith
CF Michael Harris II
SS Mauricio Dubón

For a matchup against a lefty, expect Eli White to check into left field in place of Yastrzemski and for Kyle Farmer to enter the lineup, either as the DH or at second or third so that Albies or Riley can get a ‘half day’ at DH.

Tomorrow’s watch list

This’ll wrap up The North Port Report for 2026. We’ll have a business update in the morning - among other changes, we’re turning on the paywall for almost every deep dive - and then break down the official roster once it’s finalized at midday tomorrow.