3 Braves players who won’t be on the roster by June and who should replace them

Several things have gone wrong for this Atlanta Braves team. The team's best hitters Ronald Acuña Jr., Matt Olson, and Austin Riley have all looked like shells of their usual star selves. Spencer Strider, the team's ace, is out for the year. Even guys like Ozzie Albies and Sean Murphy have missed time due to injury.

Despite all Atlanta has dealt with already, the Braves enter play on Wednesday with a 26-13 record and have the second-best winning percentage in all of baseball. Imagine how good they'll be when they get healthier and their star hitters finally wake up.

Speaking of the team getting healthier, there are some players on the IL who are nearing a return to action and will cause the roster to have a new look by the time the month of June rolls around. These three players who are on the Braves' roster right now won't be in the next month.

3) Luke Williams has no role on the Braves roster

The Braves are known to play their starting players just about every single day. In fact, Ronald Acuña Jr., Orlando Arcia, Marcell Ozuna, Matt Olson, and Michael Harris II have played in every single game for Atlanta. Austin Riley and Ozzie Albies have played every game in which they've been healthy for. Seven of Atlanta's nine regulars are in the lineup every single day barring health, which is amazing for the modern day game.

This means that Brian Snitker rarely ever turns to his bench. Adam Duvall plays against lefties and the backup catcher gets a start once in a while, but that's about it.

Snitker has had to turn to his bench recently, though, with Riley suffering a day-to-day injury. Instead of turning to Luke Williams, a player who can play third base and has been up with the Braves since mid-April, they turned to Zack Short, a player who has been DFA'd multiple times this season and had one hit in 16 at-bats with the New York Mets and Boston Red Sox. That says what the Braves think of Williams right there.

The 27-year-old has been up with Atlanta for almost exactly one month and has appeared in four games. He has a grand total of one plate appearance. That came in an 11-2 game. Eventually, the Braves will send Williams down and recall a fresh bat like Forrest Wall who has swung a good bat in AAA and can run that they can turn to if needed.

2) Jackson Stephens will lose his spot on the Braves roster

The Braves lost a key member of their bullpen when Pierce Johnson landed on the IL with right elbow inflammation. Fortunately, his IL stint is not going to wind up being for too long, as he's reportedly expected to be activated for Friday's game against the San Diego Padres.

When Johnson returns, there are two realistic players who could go down. The best option of the two to send down would be Jackson Stephens. The fact that Stephens is out of options means he'd have to be DFA'd, but it's still worthwhile for the Braves to proceed with that instead of demoting Ray Kerr who has retired all nine batters he has faced.

Stephens hasn't pitched poorly, as he's allowed one run in his 2.1 innings of work, but the fact of the matter is that the Braves don't really have anyone else who is expendable. Stephens has shown value as a long reliever in the majors before, but with how good their starting rotation is, they don't really need innings.

He'll go down when Johnson returns but will be back whenever the Braves need a fresh arm, which could always be sooner than later.

1) Chadwick Tromp's days on the Braves roster are numbered

The Braves lost their All-Star catcher Sean Murphy on Opening Day when he suffered an oblique injury. It wasn't a major blow as they still had Travis d'Arnaud there to step in, but anytime you lose an All-Star it does hurt to some degree.

d'Arnaud has filled in as the starter in Murphy's absence while Chadwick Tromp replaced d'Arnaud as the team's backup. He has appeared in 14 games this season and hasn't done much, slashing .194/.211/.278 with just three extra-base hits (all doubles), in 38 plate appearances.

He has a leash long enough to stay with the Braves until Murphy makes his return, which could be soon. He's set to begin a rehab assigment next week if all goes well according to Alex Anthopoulos which could mean he's back right as June begins or just a couple of days after. When he returns, Tromp will be sent back down.