We are in the middle of a lockout, and it doesn’t look like there is an end in sight, so let’s go ahead and start looking at the future of the Braves organization. Earlier this week, I went ahead and projected the Opening Day lineup for this upcoming season. So today, I’ll attempt to predict what the Braves might look like on Opening Day in 2023. This will be the second part of this series, as I’ll continue to predict the Braves Opening Day lineups until 2026.
Obviously, there’s no way these will be exactly correct, but I think I can come pretty close, and it should provide an idea of when a lot of these young prospects will arrive to the majors. Since the bench is extremely unpredictable, I won’t be including them, but I will predict a starting lineup, rotation, and bullpen for each year.
Starting Lineup
- Ronald Acuna Jr. (RF)
- Freddie Freeman (1B)
- Austin Riley (3B)
- Marcell Ozuna (DH)
- Ozzie Albies (2B)
- Eddie Rosario (LF)
- Travis d’Arnaud (C)
- Dansby Swanson (SS)
- Cristian Pache (CF)
If you saw my 2022 roster prediction, you know I have the Braves re-signing Freddie Freeman and Eddie Rosario once the lockout ends. You also know that I still project Marcell Ozuna to be the team’s DH. Unless the Braves can find a willing trade partner, I just can’t see them eating the remaining $53 million on his contract.
The big decisions at the end of the 2022 season are at the bottom of the lineup. Swanson is set to become a free agent, and judging by how much shortstops were paid this offseason, he will not be cheap. However, I’m not sure what else the Braves will do. They don’t have any prospects at the position that are even close to ready, so locking up Swanson appears to be the best course of action. I also think the best years of baseball are ahead of the hometown kid.
I then have Cristian Pache taking over in the outfield for Adam Duvall. If the Braves manage to re-up both Freeman and Swanson, I don’t see how they can bring back Duvall, who will surely command a multi-year offer in free agency. Good thing they don’t really need to. By 2023, Cristian Pache should be ready to take over in the outfield, but if it isn’t him, Drew Waters could also be an option, and Michael Harris may not be too far behind them.
Starting Rotation
I’m keeping my same rotation from my 2022 prediction, but only two of these are locks — Max Fried and Ian Anderson. Morton has a player option for 2023 that the Braves will surely want to pick up if he stays healthy, but Morton also has to want to play another season. Given how he performed in 2021, I still think he has a lot left in the tank, and I don’t expect that to change overnight. If he stays healthy, he should be atop Atlanta’s rotation again in 2023.
If the Braves do make a trade for another rotation arm this offseason, like I expect — in this case, Sonny Gray — it will likely be someone with more than a year of control. Gray is under contract for two more seasons, so this will be his last year in a Braves uniform.
The last spot I’m still giving to Kyle Wright. I believe in the young man. He has some of the best stuff in the entire organization, and I think he will establish himself as a full-time rotation member for the foreseeable future in 2022. He’s under team control through 2026, so Braves fans can still be very excited about his future with the team.
Bullpen
I could have searched the free agent wire, and there’s a good chance the Braves end up doing that, but I’m not sure they will have to. In 2023, Atlanta will lose two key pieces of their relief core — Luke Jackson and Will Smith. Jackson is a free agent, and I highly doubt the Braves pick up Will Smith’s option. That’s alright because they have a boatload of young arms that should be ready to contribute.
I expect Lee to be a piece of the bullpen this upcoming season, and if he performs well, he should be apart of the unit in 2023. The next three guys on the list are high-powered young gunslingers that I believe project better as relievers than as starters. Ynoa’s fastball/slider combination would be nasty coming out of the ‘pen. The same can be said about Spencer Strider, and I’m just not sure about Muller as a rotation member just yet. The last spot I gave to Jacob Webb, but there’s a number of other directions the Braves could go.
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