The Atlanta Braves are once again mired in injury concerns and we haven't even played a spring training game yet. Both Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep are slated to miss significant time. Ha-Seong Kim, their new $20 million shortstop, is projected to miss Opening Day after suffering a torn tendon in his finger after he fell on ice. Jurickson Profar is still recovering from offseason sports hernia surgery.
This is all very bleak for a team that has been decimated by an untimely and absurd concentration of ailments in recent years. The Braves just need to get healthy; this team should win a bunch of games. In lieu of better luck, however, these non-roster invitees could turn a strong spring into a spot on Atlanta's 26-man roster.
Carlos Carrasco, RHP
Atlanta's ongoing injury crisis led 38-year-old Carlos Carrasco to take the mound for three starts last season, essentially as a placeholder. That was after he earned a spot on the Yankees' Opening Day roster, only to get DFA'd. Now he's back with Atlanta on a minor league deal, but once again, the Braves are subsumed by injuries to their pitching staff. Both Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep are slated to miss significant time.
Carrasco will still need to pitch well this spring to have a shot, as the Braves' pitching pipeline is fairly deep, all things considered. But that fifth rotation spot is up for grabs to the best performer, and Carrasco — a 16-year MLB vet with 286 starts under his belt — certainly has pedigree and familiarity on his side.
Luke Williams, UTL
Luke Williams has appeared in 80 games for Atlanta over the last three seasons, with utility at shortstop, third base and in the outfield. He is mostly deployed as a pinch runner, however, with the Braves relying on his quickness and base-running IQ in important spots.
Williams has done very little at the plate for the Braves — .129/.176/.194 splits with four hits and five RBI in 31 at-bats last season — but put up an .840 OPS with Triple-A Gwinnett in 2024, so there is a track record of production in the Minors. While He-Seong Kim is ahead of schedule in his recovery from a hand injury, the Braves' shortstop depth chart is once again precariously thin. Mauricio Dubón, Brett Wisely and Jorge Mateo all sit ahead of Williams on the depth chart, but there's a world in which Atlanta banks on the familiarity and situational utility of Williams.
Jim Jarvis, SS
Jim Jarvis arrived midseason when Atlanta dealt Rafael Montero to Detroit. He's an unranked prospect at 25 years old, but Jarvis graduated from Double-A to Triple-A late last season. The Braves' ongoing dilemma at shortstop now opens the door for Jarvis to at least put his name on the radar in spring training.
His numbers aren't explosive by any means, but Jarvis finished last season in the Minors with an 81.5 percent contact rate and a 13.1 percent strikeout rate. He needs to elevate more hits and start to drive the baseball with a bit more force, but Jarvis is quite technically sound at the plate. He's been poking around the Minors for a while, and though upside is not really a consideration, but could serve as a quality fifth or sixth outfielder right out of the gate. The Braves have an incentive to see if the newcomer can break through.
Tayler Scott, RHP
Tayler Scott made 24 appearances between Houston and Arizona last season, finishing with a ghastly 7.90 ERA and 1.90 WHIP through 27.1 innings. Those numbers do not inspire much confidence. That said, he's only a year removed from his best MLB season to date — pitching 68.2 innings with a 2.23 ERA and 1.17 WHIP with Houston in 2024.
The 33-year-old's semi-recent track record of success as a medium-leverage reliever should put him under consideration for a bullpen spot if he's throwing gas this spring. That 2024 season is, to be clear, a massive outlier in an otherwise uninspiring career, but Scott has undergone a profound transformation over the years. In his debut back in 2019, Scott threw his sinker 49 percent of the time. Last season? Just three percent. He has added pitches, including a splitter, and is clearly willing to tinker with his approach in an effort to stick around.
MartÃn Pérez, LHP
MartÃn Pérez appeared in 11 games (10 starts) for the White Sox last season, with a palatable 3.54 ERA and 1.11 WHIP across 56.0 innings. The 34-year-old southpaw unequivocally outperformed his metrics, but Pérez has been a reasonably steadfast innings-eater for more than a decade now. He brings a certain pedigree to a Braves rotation lacking solid, proven weapons.
That fifth starting spot is up for grabs. Bryce Elder keeps getting opportunities, but his standing in the organization is anything but stable. Pérez's sinker sits in the high-80s these days; he's still pitching to relatively soft contact, but he's also liable to a lot of contact. Pérez is not stacking K's. That said, if the Braves view him as a functional fifth starter with a bit less downside than the notoriously combustible Elder, there's a reason chance Pérez ends up on the roster and slated to start every fifth game while Atlanta dresses its wounds.
J.R. Ritchie, RHP
J.R. Ritchie is Atlanta's No. 2 prospect at MLB Pipeline, with the 21-year-old climbing all the way from High-A to Triple-A in 2025. After losing 2023 to elbow surgery, Ritchie has quickly regained form and emerged as a potential call-up candidate for Atlanta. He executes three quality pitches, with a mid-90s fastball that zips through the zone and a slider that consistently gets chases.
Atlanta has frequently dipped into its pipeline over the past couple years to fill gaps on the mound. Schwellenbach, Waldrep and AJ Smith-Shawver have all had their breakout moments in the Majors earlier than expected. The Braves, to their credit, tend to develop pitchers well, which is especially valuable when their vets can't stay on the mound enough. Ritchie is still on the younger side, but he put up a 3.02 ERA and 1.09 WHIP across 59.2 innings in Gwinnett last season. His ceiling is much higher than Elder, Pérez or any other viable candidate to claim Atlanta's fifth rotation spot right now.