Braves make first round of Spring Training cuts: Tromp optioned, three pitchers reassigned

We knew it was coming, and I guess this Wednesday afternoon, after just a few official exhibition games have been played, the Braves have made their first round of cuts:

Early-spring cuts are mostly a foregone conclusion, a matter of when rather than if, and that’s the case here. Chadwick Tromp’s status doesn’t change much: he’s catching depth behind Travis d’Arnaud and Sean Murphy, and he’s already on the 40-man, so he can just step right in and be recalled should the Braves need him. This also likely doesn’t affect Tromp’s ability to eat catcher innings during the lengthy Spring Training schedule, since the Grapefruit League is a Wild West where teams can do more or less anything they want, like play without umpires or pull pitchers only to re-insert them into the game the next inning.

Tromp will be heading out to represent the Netherlands in the WBC shortly, anyway. Tromp had collected a single, a walk, and a strikeout in seven PAs thus far in official action.

The other three cuts are all righty arms. Blake Burkhalter threw an inning with a walk and two strikeouts, while it looks like Roel Ramirez and Brooks Wilson didn’t make it into games, though MLB.com’s Spring Training stats repository is clearly having issues right now, so take that sentence with a grain of salt. Of the three, only Burkhalter placed on our preseason Top 30 list; Ramirez spent last year as a reliever in Gwinnett, and Wilson is recovering from Tommy John Surgery.

The Braves play host to the Rays in North Port in about an hour.