The Atlanta Braves revealed their roster for the NLDS series. It included a few surprises that many weren’t expecting.
Although there weren’t many surprises on the Atlanta Braves NLDS roster list, certain inclusions raise a lot questions.
Even though we may debate the playoff roster during the off-days leading to the NLDS start, the final few spots don’t really matter.
It’s important that your starters play the majority of the innings, and that you don’t have to use the bullpen’s last three or four men — unless you’re up by quite a bit.
Here’s how the Braves NLDS roster looks
Starting Pitchers: Charlie Morton, Max Fried, Ian Anderson
Right-handed relief pitchers: Luke Jackson and Jacob Webb, Jesse Chavez and Huascar Yanoa.
Left-handed relief pitchers: Tyler Matzek and Will Smith, A.J. Minter, Dylan Lee and Drew Smyly
Starters: Travis d’Arnaud and Freddie Freeman, Freddie Freeman, Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson and Austin Riley.
Bench: Joc Peerson, Guillermo Heredia and William Contreras. Ehire Adrianza, Orlando Arcia and Terrance Gore.
Braves NLDS Roster – Questionable Decisions
Before we began recording our podcast, I was compiling my prediction for the playoff roster on Thursday night. I had only two differences.
Spencer Strider should be given the final bullpen spot over Smyly.
At this point, we know what Smyly has. If the Braves choose to play a bullpen game, he might give you an inning. However, I hope Smyly doesn’t see the mound during this series.
Strider gives you at least a power arm. We’ve seen firsthand how young flamethrowers can perform in the postseason (see 2020 Dodgers and 2021 Rays).
How many lefties are you really going to need? Five lefties seems absurd.
The other disagreement was when I chose to take Gore over Cristian Pache.
This one doesn’t seem as bad as Smyly being on the roster. Both buys do the exact same thing (good defense, speed).
While I believe Pache is better defensively and hitter than Gore, Gore is definitely faster.
This tells me Brian Snitker is happy having Heredia as his defensive substitute and Gore is only there to fill in the gaps.
Again, I believe Pache could have filled this role and provided you with a better defensive replacement from the bench.
Pache was a great player down the stretch for Gwinnett.
