Projecting the Braves’ Opening Day roster for ’24

ATLANTA — Before making my first Opening Day roster predictions, let me remind you some recent pre-Spring Training battles pitted Johan Camargo against Austin Riley for the third-base job and Vaughn Grissom against Orlando Arcia for the shortstop job.

OK, you can argue you knew Riley and Arcia were the far superior candidates. But did you anticipate the injuries that allowed Dylan Dodd to leapfrog both Ian Anderson and Kyle Wright and gain an unexpected Opening Day roster spot last year?

Even without any clear position battles, it seems wise to expect some intrigue about some initial roster spots. You just never know what to expect during Spring Training. Many decades from now, historians who wonder how John Burkett ended up with an Opening Day start during the Maddux-Glavine-Smoltz era will find that Greg Maddux cracked a toenail during his final spring start in 2001.

Something crazy is bound to happen.

I’ll provide some updated Opening Day roster projections over the next few weeks. But this is what I’m thinking before Spring Training presents us another one of those inevitable roster-altering developments.