Projecting the Braves' potential 50-man roster

Reports have all MLB teams playing the 2020 season with a 50-man roster. It’s unclear as to how many players will be on an active roster, some have the number being at 30, with the other 20 players being in a camp setting in the spring training facility.

So, how might the Braves list of 50 players look? Let’s first look at the official 40-man roster, assuming those 40 players would be 80% of the 50-man roster.

40-man roster

Davidson, Tucker
Dayton, Grant
De La Cruz, Jasseel
Foltynewicz, Mike
Fried, Max
Greene, Shane
Hamels, Cole
Jackson, Luke
Martin, Chris
Melancon, Mark
Minter, A.J.
Newcomb, Sean
O’Day, Darren
Pfeifer, Philip
Smith, Will
Sobotka, Chad
Soroka, Mike
Toussaint, Touki
Walker, Jeremy
Webb, Jacob
Weigel, Patrick
Wilson, Bryse
Wright, Kyle
Ynoa, Huascar
Contreras, William
d’Arnaud, Travis
Flowers, Tyler
Jackson, Alex
Albies, Ozzie
Camargo, Johan
Freeman, Freddie
Heckavarria, Adeiny
Swanson, Dansby
Acuna, Ronald
Duvall, Adam
Inciarte, Ender
Markakis, Nick
Ozuna, Marcell
Pache, Cristian
Riley, Austin

Now let’s look at the 28 non-roster players who were in camp with the Braves.

Anderson, Ian
Burrows, Thomas
Hernandez, Felix
Hoekstra, Kurt
Johnstone, Connor
Muller, Kyle
Nunn, Chris
Rowen, Ben
Rusin, Chris
Tomlin, Josh
Langeliers, Shea
Martinez, Carlos
Morales, Jonathan
Alonso, Yonder
Ball, Bryce
Kazmar, Sean
Kozma, Pete
Lopez, Jack
Shewmake, Braden
Solarte, Yangervis
Unroe, Riley
Culberson, Charlie
Harris, Trey
Jenista, Greyson
O’Brien, Peter
Ortega, Rafael
Robinson, Shane
Waters, Drew

Would the Braves keep all members of their official 40-man roster on the 2020 50-man roster, or would some names come off – names who they would not believe could contribute to the 2020 season, a name like William Contreras, for example? While the Braves would want Contreras to continue his development, would they really think he could contribute – or would they want Shea Langeliers, a better prospect who might have already passed Contreras, on the list instead?

Considering how he performed in spring training 1.0, I would be shocked if Langeliers was not on the 50-man roster. Langeliers showed he’s not far away, and he may have already made Contrereas trade bait (once they can again make trades).

If some players on the 40-man roster are injured, and cannot play this season, what would the rules be for the injured list to allow additional players from the 50-man roster or someone else in the farm system go on the 50-man roster? Those are rules we just don’t know about yet.

Felix Hernandez, Josh Tomlin, and Charlie Culberson are three veteran players who would likely make the list. The Braves would likely want Drew Waters on the 50-man list, since he’s a top prospect. The same can likely be said for Ian Anderson and Kyle Muller.

If Langeliers replaced Contreras, and then Hernandez, Tomlin, Culberson, Waters, Anderson, and Muller are on the list, that would be 46 players.

One name to keep in mind is Tyler Matzek, who had four scoreless appearances in the Grapefruit League as a reliever. Matzek was not only a good story, but he looked like someone who could contribute to the big-league team.

Yonder Alonso and Yangervis Solarte might make the cut considering their MLB experience, and the Braves liked how Rafael Ortega played for them last year.

That’s 50 players. Could that be the group the Braves go with?

We have no idea how trades will be made, or how changes will be made to the 50-man roster, and how much back-and-forth there can be on the roster. The normal rules regarding roster construction and management will likely be completely different for this completely different season.

The Braves have tremendous talent on their roster, and they’ll likely be in great position to be competitive. We’ll just have to wait and see how the season, as strange as it may be, unfolds.

Listen to The Bill Shanks Show weekdays at 3:00 p.m. ET on Middle Georgia’s ESPN. You can listen online at TheSuperStations.com. Follow Bill on Twitter at @billshanks and you can email him at thebillshanksshow@yahoo.com.