“He might have to be,” Snitker said when asked if Baldwin was ready to go, via Gabriel Burns of the AJC.

Snitker does believe Baldwin has made progress toward being ready to go on Opening Day.

“You’ve seen that maturity, every spring he’s gotten a little better,” Snitker said of Baldwin when Murphy went down. “He keeps improving his game. He got a little notoriety in the Futures Game, playing with the USA team, which all will serve him well going forward. He’s an impressive young man.”

The Braves open the regular season on the road against the San Diego Padres on March 27. They will hope to be less injury prone this season and make another run at a World Series title.

Top Braves prospect avoids injury

After catcher Sean Murphy went down with a cracked rib, the Atlanta Braves narrowly dodged another injury, this time involving one of their highly-rated prospects.

Top left-handed pitching prospect Cam Caminiti went for an MRI after dealing with forearm tightness. The scan confirmed he had tendonitis as opposed to something more serious, Harrison Smajovits of Atlanta Braves On SI reported.

Caminiti is still a decent way away from joining the big league club, having an ETA of 2028 in the Major Leagues. He has already built an impressive arsenal of pitches, however.

“His arsenal consists of a four-seam fastball, curveball, slider and changeup,” Smajovits wrote about Caminiti. “The highlight is his fastball which is rated a 60 on the 20-to-80 scale. At that rating, it is considered “plus” stuff. During his final year of high school, it sat between 93 mph and 95 mph and could reach up to 98 mph.”

Although Caminiti is not anticipated to be in Atlanta this season, the Braves are glad he avoided an injury that could have stunted his development. He follows Baldwin as the No. 2 prospect in the organization.