The North Port Report: The Silent Assassin Carves Up Another Lineup
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 mid-March. The games may not count yet, but the information does.
Here’s what stood out today
All due respect to veterans Martín Pérez and Robert Suarez, who both pitched today, but let’s talk about Didier Fuentes.
The youngster made his third appearance of spring and, after nine total innings, has yet to allow a walk, a run, or even a hit. Fuentes has faced 28 batters and has 17 strikeouts and one hit batter, but that’s the only blemish against him. He struck out eight Phillies today, picking up thirteen whiffs and a 47% CSW and averaging 96.4 on his heater. It’s easy to see how, now that he’s already stretched out to the 50-pitch range, he could end up as either a long man or a spot starter to open the season.
(We broke down the possibilities last Saturday)
On the offensive side, the Braves rallied from a two-run deficit to put up a crooked number in the 7th inning and take the lead. After Dom Smith reached on an error, Michael Harris II lined a single to right and pinch-runner Dalton McIntyre scored from first to put Atlanta on the board. Ben Gamel then doubled, putting two in scoring position, for a Luke Williams sacrifice fly and a hotshot to third by Mauricio dubón that tied up Garrett Stubbs for an infield error and scored the third run of the inning.
Yes, catcher Garrett Stubbs, playing third base for the very first time in his career. Spring training is like that sometimes.
While top Phillies prospect Andrew Painter confounded a lot of Atlanta’s regulars today, inducing two pop-outs and four ground-outs, the down-lineup pieces are what powered Atlanta to a victory today.
Quick Hits
As we expected, the Kansas City Royals have officially named lefty Cole Ragans as the Opening Day starter. As a result, Mike Yastrzemski might not be the leftfielder for game one of the season. He’ll likely still get 120 games of playing time, but odds are that he won’t be in the lineup to start the very first actual game of the season.
TRIVIA: Who was the leftfielder for the Atlanta Braves for 2023’s Opening Day game in Washington? Answer at the end of this column.
Grant Holmes pitched in a Triple-A game today, per a source who was present on the backfields of CoolToday Park. He gave up one run on two hits, both in the first inning, and went five full frames. No velocity readings were publicly available, but I’m told, “the glove was popping.”
Thursday’s an off day before a big Friday night matchup of All-Stars: Paul Skenes leads his Pirates squad into CoolToday Park to take on Bryce Elder and the Braves. It’s another night game, this with a 6:05 PM ET start.
UPDATE: Shortly after this article was published, the Braves made one minor roster move, reassigning catcher Jair Camargo to minor league camp. Atlanta now has 42 active players in big league camp.
Roster Battle Tracker
Stock UP
Ben Gamel. The lefty-hitting outfielder had a double today, his sixth extra-base hit of spring, and has both scored seven runs and driven in seven. While he’s more prone to whiffs and strikeouts than some of the other bench options, he’s been a constant source of power this spring and could stand to benefit if Atlanta decides to prioritize offense from their final bench spot.
Stock DOWN
Martín Pérez. The veteran was knocked around for six hits today, including being pulled in the first inning after giving up a double, a single, and eventually a bases-loaded walk. Getting just two whiffs and a 19% CSW against a mostly backup-laden Phillies roster while not even averaging 91 mph makes it hard to see Atlanta being willing to use Pérez as anything more than emergency depth.
Observation of the Day
I can’t get over Didier Fuentes and how dominant he looked. He even came back out for a fourth inning of work…and then mowed down Philly in eight pitches. While the splitter’s not all the way there, he did draw two swings on four of them thrown and got another called strike, so combining that with the 50% whiff rate on his four-seamer today and 71% whiff rate on the slider is enough to have any pitching coach salivating.
Tomorrow’s watch list
Enjoy the off day. There won’t be an edition of The North Port Report, but we’re back on Friday for the epic duel of Skenes vs Elder.
Trivia Answer
Marcell Ozuna made two starts in left field during the 2023 season. The first one was Opening Day, followed by the Sunday finale (game three). He never played the field for the Braves after that, making 441 starts at designated hitter before signing with the Pittsburgh Pirates in free agency.
Is Marcel the only gold glover we’ve had in the outfield since 2023?