For a while, the Braves core was considered the best in baseball by a wide margin.
Alex Anthopoulos did an exquisite job building the roster with young, homegrown talent and external veterans brought in through free agency or trade. Everyone wanted to have what the Braves have, but they’ve officially been knocked down from their pedestal.
ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel recently ranked every club’s core, and the Braves topped the list the past two years, but that honor goes to the Dodgers this year.
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Elite: Ronald Acuna Jr./RF, Chris Sale/LHS, Spencer Strider/RHS
Plus: Austin Riley/3B, Michael Harris/CF, Spencer Schwellenbach/RHS, Ozzie Albies/2B, Matt Olson/1B
Solid: Reynaldo Lopez/RHS, Sean Murphy/C, Jorge Soler/RF, Orlando Arcia/SS, Aaron Bummer/LHR, Joe Jimenez/RHR, Drake Baldwin/C, Jarred Kelenic/LF, Pierce Johnson/RHR, Nacho Alvarez Jr./SS, Hurston Waldrep/RHS, A.J. Smith-Shawver/RHS
“After running away with this exercise the first two years, the Braves have hit some bumpy ground outside of the heist and extension of Sale that has been nothing short of amazing, and the addition of Lopez to a lesser degree,” McDaniel writes.
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The Braves should be praised for the acquisitions of Sale and Lopez; there wasn’t a club with two better additions this offseason. McDaniel doesn’t take into account salaries, so obviously that benefits the Dodgers, who can spend literally a billion dollars to pluck the best players off the open market. However, that’s not the entire story as to why McDaniel ranked the Braves second.
“Injuries to Acuna, Strider, Riley, Harris, and Albies don’t affect their long-term projection much, but most of them have had slightly down years around those injuries so there were a few downgrades to account for that. In atypical fashion for Atlanta, there also hasn’t been a prospect with a Harris or Strider-level breakthrough this season — but keep an eye on Baldwin in 2025,” McDaniel continues.
Acuna, Strider, and Riley haven’t had “down years” around their injuries, so I don’t know how McDaniel can say “most” of that group has. I also don’t agree with the sentiment that the Braves don’t have another star prospect coming down the pike.
Spencer Schwellenbach’s surface level numbers aren’t anything to warrant a Cy Young, but the kid has a 3.69 ERA. Peel the layers back, and they’re even better. Schwellenbach owns a 2.66 ERA in his last 10 starts, which spans 61.0 innings. He’s got a legit five-pitch mix and actually deserves NL Rookie of the Year consideration. Shouldn’t win it, but he deserves to be mentioned. It makes the potential loss of Max Fried much more bearable.
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Jeff Robinson/Icon Sportswire
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