Funny, the Braves have no depth chart on the front page of their website? What are they afraid of? Or do they just not have any depth? It seems like their web ninja doesn’t understand the game so well. Yes, they have 11 starters, according to the site, but several are hurt and one starter is Didier Fuentes, who is in the minors.

There a lot of “Yes. Buuuuts” on this team. Offensively, they have pieces. Drake Baldwin is one of the best hitting catchers in the game and he’s only 25. Ronald Acuña Jr. is back. Did you know he has played in just two full seasons? We will see how the ACL recovery is in full this year. He had just nine stolen bases in 95 games last year. Ozzie Albies had the best strikeout-to-walk ratio (94:55) of his career last year. He’ll hurt teams with his bat and his glove. He’s led the league in assists in four-of-eight full seasons. Michael Harris II walked 16 times last year…16! How does a guy with his speed not take a pitch? Because he’s striking out 128 times, that’s why. Matt Olson will likely hit around 30 homers. With the pitching at the top of this division, he’ll have to fatten his RBI stats against teams at the bottom. Mauricio Dubón was a nice pickup. Houston let him go after he won a Gold Glove. He is a contact hitter (42 K’s to 24 BBs in 2026) but he doesn’t really do a ton with the balls he puts in play. Austin Riley can hit 35 dingers or he can miss 60 games with injury.

Kyle Farmer (.252 vs. lefties, 211 vs. righties) and Mike Yastrzemski (.256 vs. righties, .138 vs. lefties) will platoon in the outfield.

Chris Sale turns 37 to open the season. He has started 70 games for the Braves the last three years, including his 29-appearance Cy Young season of ’24. the other two seasons saw him pitch 20 times each year. Great when he’s in there. Not in there often enough. Reynaldo Lopez (Career: 3.91 ERA, 1.27 WHIP) is a solid first/second starter, who missed all of last year due to arthroscopic shoulder surgery. The year before that, he mosted an ERA under 2.00. Grant Holmes‘ hair might belong in my new reality TV show, Florida Gator Grabbers, but the guy is a solid number three. (3.75 ERA 193 K’s in 183.1 innings pitched). Bryce Elder is coming off two wretched seasons (231 hits allowed in 206 IP). They needed him last year, but didn’t get much as they struggled to a fourth-place finish. Gotta root for the guy after he started his career with two really good seasons.

They have a ton of injured pitchers. Spencer Schwellenbach is out with bone spurs (3.23 ERA in 38 career starts). He must have shared a glass with Hurston Waldrep (2.88 ERA in 10 games last year). Waldrep had surgery to remove “loose bodies” from his elbow. Spencer Strider has gone elbow, hamstring, lopsided mustache, oblique on the injury list the last three seasons. He was really good in 2022-23.The Braves need a lefty starter. Martín Pérez was good last year, but only appeared in 11 games. Jose Suarez was good four seasons ago, but not since (5.34 career ERA, 1.86 ERA in seven mostly-relief appearances last year).

JR Ritchie had what seems to be obligatory Tommy John surgery for any young pitcher in 2023. He pitched 140 innings last year in the minors with opposing batters hitting .175 against him. He seems the most likely for a call-up.

As with every team, health is key. But, it seems like almost everyone they are counting on has a history of injuries. Assume the worst, celebrate if all goes well.

Forecast: 88 wins. Likely Wild Card. If reasonably healthy, add five or six to that total.