Braves Report: 2 intriguing dudes

Hello friends!

Our new pal Chad Bishop is off this week, resting up before … you know … basically working every single day for the next eight or nine months.

Figured I’d pop in and say hi anyway.

Have Braves-related questions? The Braves Report mailbox is always open for business.

NONROSTER RUMINATIONS

Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos, always up to something.

Braves pitchers and catchers are a mere weekend away from (finally! gloriously!) heading on down to North Port for spring training.

Position players aren’t far behind.

And while more additions could be afoot, we got a better glimpse of the full slate of participants this week — when the team released its list of 24 nonroster invitees scheduled to make the trip.

Lots of top prospects in there. Lots to watch.

But there are two nonroster guys whose spring performances we’re particularly interested in.

1️⃣ Alex Lodise: The Braves picked up this now-21-year-old shortstop in the second round of last year’s draft, following his standout career at Florida State — which included winning the college baseball version of the Heisman Trophy.

In his 32-game minor league debut with Rome, Lodise hit .252 with one homer and an average OPS.

The Braves, of course, have supersub Mauricio Dubon to handle most of the fill-in work until Ha-Seong Kim returns from his ice-related finger injury. There’s also offseason signing Jorge Mateo (fast, if uninspiring at the plate) and nonroster invitees like Luke Williams.

But Lodise is the club’s highest-ranked nonpitching prospect.

• And as my colleague Gabe Burns recently wrote: “If (Lodise) excels, his major league debut could be surprisingly soon. The Braves’ track record of rewarding prospects speaks for itself.”

An impressive spring could be the first step in that rapid ascension.

More on Lodise (and two other exciting prospects) here. A bigger picture look at the farm system here.

2️⃣ Martin Pérez: On the opposite end of the spectrum lies this classic Alex Anthopoulos addition.

The Braves just recently inked Pérez, a 34-year-old lefty starter, to a minor league deal. Ideally, they’d still sign another experienced arm with a less rocky recent past.

But as columnist Michael Cunningham pointed out earlier this week, there’s more than an iota of intrigue here.

Pérez navigated injuries last year but started 10 games for the White Sox, posting a 3.54 ERA and striking out 44 batters over 54 innings. Previous stints, including with the Pirates and Padres, were bumpier.

• Before all that, though, there was 2022: A 2.89 ERA over 22 starts for the Rangers. Plus an All-Star appearance.

The Braves rotation is flush with both talent and health-related questions marks. Maybe Perez is washed, or destined to get hurt again.

But Anthopoulos has certainly hit the jackpot with these low-risk, high-ceiling acquisitions before.

Excited to see if he’s done it again.

A RETURN TO TBS VIBES?

Well, y’all … the Braves officially broke ties with failing FanDuel Sports Network. They say they’ve already been working on an alternative for broadcasting games and swear they’ll be ready by the season opener on March 27.

But we don’t know much more than that.

Our amigo Ken Sugiura explored the possibility of a rabbit-ear, Superstation-type arrangement with someone like Atlanta News First or Gray Television (Peachtree TV, etc.). While that would certainly be the … freest option, it’s not the only one.

If you had your druthers, which would you choose?

• A. Give me that over-the-air goodness.
• B. Standalone streaming situation, please.
• C. Let MLB do it, you’re making me nervous.
• D. Man, just make it available and I’ll figure it out.

✅ Vote with our fancy form or shoot me an email.

INTERNATIONAL INTRIGUE

Ozzie Albies, Braves second baseman and proud product of Curacao.

The World Baseball Classic starts March 5 and we are, of course, rooting for Team USA.

But also Ronald Acuña Jr.’s Venezuela squad.

🇳🇱 And definitely the Netherlands.

The Dutch-Dutch aren’t exactly known for their hardball heroism. But the lovely island of Curacao, a Dutch “constituent country,” is — and that place is positively popping with ballplayers.

Many of whom play or played for your Atlanta Braves.

The WBC roster announced Wednesday includes …

• Manager Andruw Jones and pitching coach Jair Jurrjens.
• Current Braves Ozzie Albies, Jurickson Profar and Chadwick Tromp.
• Former Braves closer Kenley Jansen.
• Plus Druw Jones, Andruw’s son, a graduate of Gwinnett County’s Wesleyan School and a current minor leaguer in the Diamondbacks system.

They’ll open pool play on March 6 in Miami — against Acuña & Co.

BOBBLEHEADS AND SUCH

I wrote about this season’s slate of Truist Park giveaways in my other newsletter, the Win Column (sign up!), earlier this week.

But it’s a pretty impressive list — so figured we’d cover our bases and mention it here too.

The bobblehead roster is as follows:

• Drake Baldwin Rookie of the Year (March 31).
• Michael Harris II and his dog Cash (May 13).
• David Justice, 1995 World Series home run (June 2).
• Ha-Seong Kim (July 21).
• Andruw Jones, Hall of Fame (July 30).
• Javy Lopez (Aug. 12).
• and Andres Galarraga (Aug. 14).

There’s also other random stuff like Dale Murphy replica jerseys (April 10); Hawaiian shirts (May 12); Drake Baldwin Braves hockey jerseys (June 3); and the third edition of Spencer Strider’s vinyl record collection (Aug. 11).

🗓️ Full slate, including kid-centric giveaways, here.

GREG MADDUX STORY? GREG MADDUX STORY

I’m not much of a viral video enjoyer, but there’s at least one genre that I’ll never scroll past: literally anybody telling a Greg Maddux story.

Which brings us to this delightful clip posted a few days ago by the Pitching Ninja.

I won’t spoil the whole thing, but it involves a 19-year-old Jeff Francoeur signing autographs next to Mad Dog during spring training … and realizing the Hall of Famer was casually mixing in the name of a serial killer instead of his own.

Enjoy.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

What’s that? A beautifully refurbished diamond at Maynard Jackson High School, in honor of the late, great Hank Aaron? And they’re doing it at every other city of Atlanta high school too?