The North Port Report: Braves Name a Starter for First Spring Training Game

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

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 February. The games may not count yet, but the information does.

Here’s what stood out today

There’s a rule you need to know about spring training, and it comes to lineups.

You see, spring training road matchups require bus trips, and especially in Florida, some of those can be multiple hours. A trip to take on the Cardinals or Marlins, who share Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, is 170 miles each way. Lakeland, spring home of the Tigers, is 101 miles away. Cacti Park of the Palm Beaches, home of both the Astros and Nationals, is 169 miles.

To prevent teams from exempting their stars from making those trips, the league has a rule about how many MLB veterans have to be on your travel rosters, with clubs required to send four players who were either regulars on last year’s team or have a reasonable chance to be regulars on this year’s squad. Position players also need to play three innings of the contest (barring injury).

Many teams test this rule, and the Braves are no exception for game one. Manager Walt Weiss’ plan for the first road game, coming versus the Rays in Port Charlotte (only about eight miles away), meets the minimum of the rule, but no more. Despite the relatively close distance, Atlanta’s veterans making the trip will be limited to Mike Yastrzemski, Eli White, Jonah Heim, and Jorge Mateo, with prospect John Gil expected to check in and play a majority of the game behind Mateo for evaluation purposes. NRI starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco will be on the mound.

If you want to watch, MLB.TV will carry the Tampa Bay broadcast or you can listen to Ben Ingram and the Atlanta Braves Radio Network on 680 AM/93.7 The Fan or through radio streaming providers. First pitch is set for 1.05 PM ET.

Quick Hits

• Weiss also discussed the potential for a six-man rotation to start the season, as Atlanta has thirteen games in the first thirteen days. He didn’t immediately dismiss the idea, saying that a six-man rotation makes sense.

  • The question at this point would be who the sixth starter would be - with the injuries to both Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep, there is no logical candidate to take that final rotation spot. My assumption is that the team would try to use potentially having two longmen on the roster in Joey Wentz and José Suarez to coordinate some sort of bullpen/piggyback scenario before coming back around to the top of the rotation, but we’ll see what they do as we get closer to Opening Day.

• In ‘guys sometimes do fun stuff during spring training’ news, Michael Harris II reportedly took a portion of his batting practice swings right-handed. Weiss confirmed that Harris isn’t seriously working on switch-hitting, but did agree that it was good to see enough confidence in his swing for the centerfielder to have a bit of fun. Matt Olson was seen in centerfield shagging fly balls, also just for fun.

• Austin Riley hit back-to-back home runs during batting practice, including one to dead center. Talking to 680 The Fan’s Chris Dimino, Riley confessed that the long hair and beard were the idea of now-former Braves reliever Pierce Johnson, who essentially dared him to do it. Riley’s wife, reportedly, likes it so it might not go away, especially if it works and he hits his 30HR/100RBI goal.

Roster Battle Tracker

Stock UP

None as of now

Stock DOWN

None as of now

Observation of the Day

In the wake of the games finally starting, I’m thinking about how to watch them. Gray Media is airing 15 spring training games, starting with Sunday’s home opener, but we still don’t have an announcement on this rumored ‘Braves Sports Network’ that the organization’s working on for 2026. FanDuel Sports Network did officially issue the WARN notices for 74 layoffs in their Atlanta offices, though.

With the 2025 annual earnings call set for next Wednesday morning (and yes, I’m signed up for it, as always), I’m guessing we get something either on Tuesday or first thing on Wednesday ahead of when Terry McGuirk and Derek Shiller will be speaking to analysts.

As MLB said, I’m confident in our ability to watch the games, but the ‘how’ of it is still an open question.

Tomorrow’s watch list

One more sleep and we get baseball.