The North Port Report: Grant Holmes Looks Fantastic Versus Pirates

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

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

Here’s what stood out today

Uh, I think Grant Holmes is ready for Opening Day.

Having recovered from the UCL and flexor tendon issues that cut short his 2025 campaign, the long-haired righty is dealing in spring training. Against a mostly ‘A’ lineup of Pittsburgh’s, Holmes put up five nearly perfect innings, not allowing any runs or hits but walking one while punching out nine. The slider was the real star of the show here, picking up thirteen whiffs on fourteen swings, an absurd 93% whiff rate. He added three more whiffs on the curveball and two on a recently-tweaked four-seam fastball, finishing with a 42% CSW (Called Strikes plus Whiffs).

The other notable pitching appearance was Joel Payamps, pitching a scoreless sixth frame while working around a one-out fielding error from shortstop Jorge Mateo. He threw all five pitches, sitting at 95.8 on his four-seamer, a full mph higher than last year’s average. As late as his debut was in Grapefruit League play, I’ve not seen anything to indicate that he’s any worse for wear and he’s likely in the Opening Day bullpen. More on that tomorrow.

Offensively, it was a quiet game from both sides, with the lineups combining for only three hits as the game headed into the bottom of the 8th. The Braves runs were from a solo homer from catcher Jair Camargo, working as the DH, and a 6th inning RBI single that scored Michael Harris II from second. Harris was the first batter of the game to reach scoring position, getting there via yet another spring training walk and then a stolen base.

Of note is that the two teams combined for four errors, with Atlanta’s second one coming from prospect Cody Miller. Between the errors and multiple caught stealings, a lot of the little things weren’t done well in this one.

Quick Hits

• Ozzie Albies is back in camp after his experience at the World Baseball Classic. Albies hit the first-ever walk-off home run in WBC history to rally his Netherlands team versus Nicaragua and had nothing but praise for the tournament. “I’m telling you, it was one of the best experiences and moments of my life,” said Albies to Chad Bishop of the AJC.

  • Chadwick Tromp also returned to North Port and reported to minor league camp, as he was reassigned soon after departing for WBC camp.

• Speaking of the WBC, the quarterfinals start on Friday, with Team USA taking on Canada and old friend Michael Soroka at 8PM ET.

• Flamethrowing prospect Didier Fuentes gets the start on Friday versus the New York Yankees.

Roster Battle Tracker

Stock UP

Grant Holmes. We knew he was going to make the roster and be in the rotation to start the season, but given his injury last season and the potential reinforcements either returning from injury or being promoted from AAA, I wondered if he would eventually head back to the pen for the stretch run. But if he keeps looking like he did tonight, there’s no way you can take that guy out of the starting five.

Stock DOWN

I don’t want to keep kicking them while they’re down, but Jorge Mateo and Luke Williams have struggled all through spring, and tonight was no exception. Mateo was hitless with two strikeouts and an error, while Luke Williams went 0-3 with a strikeout and looked…average at best at second base. Mateo’s going to make the roster as the backup shortstop, but there’s nothing that I’ve seen so far that guarantees he’ll still be on the roster once Ha-Seong Kim returns in mid-May.

Observation of the Day

The end of spring training games are frequently ugly, and today was no exception. The Pirates scored five runs in the 8th inning, thanks to multiple singles, a walk, and two different defensive errors by Atlanta. It’s part of the reason I don’t even mention the scores in a lot of these daily recaps; often, the score has nothing to do with the quality of the vast majority of the game.

Tomorrow’s watch list

I’m going to watch both Fuentes’ control and how it changes over the course of the outing. As he’s already on the 40-man roster, he’s a logical candidate to be an early spot starter, so hopefully he can hold the improved velo and locations we saw last time out in a longer outing.