The North Port Report: Braves Narrow Down Camp Roster After a Win

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

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

Here’s what stood out today

As always, Spencer Strider gets the top-line notes. He gave the Braves four scoreless innings, striking out five opposite two hits and one walk. But if you were one of those who were hoping for one or two mph growth in his fastball velocity, today might have been a bit disappointing - he averaged roughly 94.8, tailing off in the 3rd and 4th innings from his recent norm of 95. His fastball still had the better movement profile, sitting at 17 inches of induced vertical break, but he got only one whiff on fourteen swings with it. He did finish with nine whiffs overall and a 33% CSW, thanks to the slider picking up five whiffs and another four called strikes, while the curveball chipped in three combined called strikes and whiffs. Encouragingly, of the nine batted balls he allowed, only two were hard-hit - a 99.3 mph groundout (catcher Nick Fortes) and a 98.8 flyout (Gavin Lux).

Behind Strider, I was encouraged to see Martín Perez go four innings with six strikeouts, albeit with three runs allowed. He was mixing all five pitches effectively, got three ground ball outs, and settled down after allowing a two-out single, walk, and homer in his first inning of work. Raisel Iglesias was the bridge pitcher between the two, with Iggy being Iggy - one hit, coming on a double to left on a dotted outside fastball, but a strikeout and two flyball outs around it to strand the runner.

Offensively, we saw more quality swings from the Braves’ stars. Matt Olson homered in the first inning and finished with two hits total, while Austin Riley walked twice, stole a bag, and got jammed on an inside fastball but dropped it into no man’s land in right for a hustle double. Brett Wisely homered in the 5th, while Dom Smith and Mauricio Dubón had some hard-hit balls of their own, although Dubón also struck out twice. More on Dom Smith later.

From the backups, only Luis Guanipa was able to do much of anything, hitting an RBI single up the middle, scoring Lizandro Espinoza (who singled and stole a base of his own). John Gil played shortstop after Dubón and struck out, although he still got on thanks to a passed ball on strike three.

Quick Hits

• The Braves made more transactions today, optioning lefty reliever Hayden Harris to Gwinnett and reassigning righties Carlos Carrasco, Elieser Hernandez, and James Karinchak to minor league camp.

  • I had Karinchak as one of the leaders in the clubhouse for an Opening Day bullpen spot, but sending him down this early tells me that they’re preserving flexibility and depth over the best possible eight-man pen.

• The team announced Braves.TV today - for $19.99/month or $99.99/year, fans in-market can stream all 140-ish non-national exclusives, coming out to roughly 71 cents per game. Full cable and streaming provider distribution deals have yet to be announced, but for those of us without cable, this was what we were waiting for.

• Grant Holmes will be the starter in Bradenton on Thursday night opposite the Pirates. Reynaldo López threw a simulated game on Wednesday in North Port instead of making the road trip.

  • Side note, it appears that the likely rotation order to start the season appears to be Sale, Strider, López, Holmes, and Elder, based on how they’re starting to adjust their schedules now that the outings are longer.

Roster Battle Tracker

Stock UP

Dom Smith. I was skeptical of this signing, both when it happened and when he was floated as a potential replacement at designated hitter for Jurickson Profar. But Smith continues to have a strong spring and it’s easy to see how he could, at least temporarily, hold down DH against right-handed pitching early in the season before Sean Murphy and Ha-Seong Kim return to the lineup.

Stock DOWN

Archer Brookman. Atlanta acquired the 27-year-old minor leaguer in winter’s Rule 5 draft (AAA round), and I wasn’t particularly impressed with what I saw today. His only at-bat was a strikeout on a belt-high 93 mph fastball, while his receiving was merely okay and he was charged with an error on a stolen base attempt that allowed the runner to advance to third. He’s potentially going to struggle moving up in the pecking order past Tromp and León.

Observation of the Day

Today’s outing from Strider showed me that even if he’s not able to consistently sit at 97-98, the fact that he can reach back to get that at times and that he’s more comfortable with his curveball and changeup means that he should be able to be a top-half-of-the-rotation arm for Atlanta. That being said, it’d be very likely Strider to do this all spring and then pop some 99s and 100s in his first regular-season start. I still believe that there is a bit more velocity to come as he continues building up for Opening Day.

Tomorrow’s watch list

It’s another night game for the Braves, the second of spring training, and I’m curious to see what Grant Holmes looks like in a four or five-inning outing. Quick programming note: I’m traveling for the next few days, so no guarantees that The North Port Report will get out every evening. Worst-case scenario, I’ll make sure we do a big recap to open next week, both here and on the podcast.