NORTH PORT, Fla. — After playing in Monday’s game in Port Charlotte, Forrest Wall was driving home. Halfway through his trip, he received a call from Braves manager Brian Snitker.
“I saw his name in my contacts come up,” Wall said. “Initially, my heart started racing. I just said a little prayer and answered the phone.”
Snitker called to tell Wall he made the opening-day roster.
“I hung up the phone and was just, like, yelling in my car by myself, screaming, excited,” Wall said. “It was awesome.”
Said Snitker of making that call: “It’s awesome. You have so many tough conversations with these guys, and when you can have one like that, I felt about as good as he did, probably.”
Wall called his wife, Brianna, who began screaming. Their younger daughter, who probably didn’t know what was happening, also started screaming because she saw that her mom was so excited.
When the Braves break camp next week, Wall will be on the flight to Philadelphia.
Two days later, he’ll stand on the line with his teammates for the national anthem on opening day.
“I mean, I think it’s still setting in,” he said. “I don’t think it’s really hit me. I think it’ll be really cool to be standing there on opening day and hear the national anthem. I think that’ll be a moment where it really sets in. But I’m just still really excited from hearing the news.”
Spencer Strider said it’s usually a race between him and Wall to see who arrives at the field first each day. “Usually, he beats me, and he’s already doing something,” Strider said.
“He’s an unbelievable talent. Guy works so hard. His preparation and work ethic is just unreal. … I’m happy for him.”
Strider on opening-day start: ‘It’s an honor’
Max Fried, Chris Sale and Charlie Morton have started on opening day. Strider already is an ace.
Strider and Fried were the options to start March 28 in Philadelphia, and Snitker could’ve gone either way.
“We have two or three of them that I don’t think it’d have been a wrong choice, honestly,” Snitker said. “And (Strider’s) body of work last year, to me, warranted opening day.”
And so it’ll be Strider versus the Phillies to open the season.
“It was cool,” Strider said of getting the news from Snitker. “It’s an honor, for sure. I think that we’ve got a lot of guys that deserve to be opening-day starters. That’s what’s cool to me, is just where we are as a team. I think we’re all pretty focused on taking each day and kind of using it to prepare for the end of the season, anyways. Definitely a cool honor for me, but the focus is always long-term.”
Strider’s coach at Clemson used to say, “There’s nothing special about opening day.” His point: Every game is important.
But …
“There always is going to be something special about it, so it’s definitely cool,” Strider said. “But there is something to his argument as well that it’s another game and you gotta treat it like any other game. They’re all important.”
Strider will start opening day in a rotation that has four former opening-day starters. This makes you realize how good the Braves’ rotation could be this season.
“You’re equally as excited for the next game as you are for your own,” Strider said. “I would imagine for the rest of the team, for the position players, the guys that are going out there every day, they’re playing with a confidence knowing that every game is equally available to be won. That’s what you want.”
Arcia plays
Orlando Arcia, who was hit in the hand by a pitch Sunday, played in Wednesday’s game versus the Blue Jays at CoolToday Park. He started at shortstop and batted eighth.
The Braves feel fortunate he didn’t sustain an injury.
On Wednesday, Arcia went 2-for-2 with a walk.
First three starting pitchers
Chris Sale was scheduled to throw on a back field Wednesday, Snitker said. In their big-league spring game, the Braves started Raisel Iglesias.
If he stays on this schedule, Sale would be lined up to pitch the third game of the season – the series finale in Philadelphia.
Charlie Morton presumably would start the fourth game, which was the series opener in Chicago versus the White Sox.
The Braves haven’t announced their rotation order. But it could go like this: Strider, Fried, Sale, Morton and Reynaldo Lopez.
A spark for Kelenic?
On Wednesday, Jarred Kelenic collected two hits and had three good at-bats. In one at-bat, Kelenic battled before smoking a single on the 12th pitch.
Entering Wednesday’s game, Jarred Kelenic was 3-for-42 in the spring. Spring statistics can be meaningless, but it’s always nice to see a struggling player string together a couple good games before opening day.
Perhaps Wednesday can spark Kelenic.
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