5. A.J. Minter
What Brian Snitker chooses to do starting the year for the final three to four innings of games remains unclear with Kenley Jansen now with Boston and Raisel Iglesias starting the year on the injured list. The Atlanta bullpen will look a bit different start the year and the obvious player that needs to step up is A.J. Minter.
Minter has had an up-and-down career but has brought a level of consistency over the past three seasons and remains one of Atlanta’s most important arms. With a rotation that, when healthy, will have Morton, Strider, Wright, and Fried, the Atlanta bullpen should often be fresh even in today’s pitch count age.
To begin the year, however, as starters finish stretching out and Atlanta attempts to get fully healthy there is arguably no reliever more important than A.J. Minter.
Minter is Atlanta’s most likely closer for the first weeks of the season a position Atlanta could opt to keep the reliever in leaving Iglesias in the same role as the previous season if Minter is able to mentally take the next step as a closer.