The Braves roster is officially set, at least for the first day of the season.
The club announced Wednesday the 26 players who will be in the clubhouse and available to play at 7:15 p.m. Friday against the Royals at Truist Park. There were no surprises on the list, other than late-addition Osvaldo Bido (claimed off waivers Tuesday), who replaces injured starting pitcher Spencer Strider.
While Strider will start the season on the injured list with an oblique strain, fellow starting pitchers Chris Sale, Reynaldo López, Grant Holmes and Bryce Elder are all expected to start the opening week of the season. Bido, left-hander José Suarez or right-hander Didier Fuentes could also make a start in the coming days for the Braves.
The bullpen will be led by closer Raisel Iglesias. Setup-man (and former All-Star closer) Robert Suarez, Dylan Lee, Aaron Bummer, Tyler Kinley and Joel Payamps round out the bullpen.
The Braves will carry two catchers to start the season in 2025: NL Rookie of the Year Drake Baldwin and switch-hitting Jonah Heim. Right-fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. and center-fielder Michael Harris II make up 2/3 of the outfield, while either Eli White or Mike Yastrzemski will man left field on most days.
The familiar infield of Matt Olson at first base, Ozzie Albies at second and Austin Riley at third will be joined by newcomer Mauricio Dubón at shortstop. Offseason pickups Jorge Mateo, Kyle Farmer and Dominic Smith will be on the bench in backup roles.
The Braves also made a handful of roster moves to arrive at the magic number of 26 active players on the roster: catcher Sean Murphy (hip) and short stop Ha-Seong Kim (finger) were placed on the 10-day injured list, pitchers Strider, AJ Smith-Shawver (elbow), Danny Young (elbow), Hurston Waldrep (elbow) and Daysbel Hernandez (shoulder) were placed on the 15-day IL, and second baseman Brett Wisely was designated for assignment.
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