Atlanta Braves: Opening Day Roster Beginning to Take Shape

Between a series of roster transactions and the announcement regarding their opening series starting pitchers, the Atlanta Braves 2019 opening day roster is rounding into form…with a couple of notable surprises.

Last week, the Atlanta Braves made the first big announcement regarding their opening day roster plans when they announced that Julio Teheran would take the mound in Game 1 of the upcoming season.

With spring training wrapping up over the weekend with the final game in their Orlando facility and the first game in their new North Port spring home, the Atlanta Braves announced their rotation plans for the first 7 games of the season:

With early spring injuries to pitchers Mike Foltynewicz and Kevin Gausman, the only likely sure things for the starting rotation were Teheran, Sean Newcomb, and a combination of top prospects who all got experience with the big club last season.

This group, including Kyle Wright, Touki Toussaint, Max Fried, Bryse Wilson, and Kolby Allard, got plenty of action this spring as it became evident that the Atlanta Braves would begin the season short-handed in the rotation.

Wright was strong for much of the spring before struggling in his previous start, and Fried was a model of consistency as he heads into his final start of the spring tonight at SunTrust Park.  The announcement that these two youngsters would start the season in Atlanta was no real shocker.

The biggest surprise, in my mind, was the news that Wilson made the cut over Toussaint and that he would start Game 2 of the young season.

Toussaint struggled for much of the spring, but given his tools and the fact that he was on the 2018 postseason roster, many had him penciled in as a near-certainty to make the club.  In a flurry of transactions over the weekend, however, Toussaint was one of several players optioned back to the minor leagues.

Like Fried, Wilson was consistently strong throughout camp and was certainly deserving of the honor.  In a radio interview last week, Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos was emphatic that pitchers who had stuff and who were throwing strikes would pitch in big games this year.  With only 2 walks, 13 strikeouts, and an ERA of 3.29 over 13+ innings this spring, it seems evident that Anthopoulos was specifically targeting the anticipated move of taking Wilson over Toussaint with the team as they head north.