Atlanta makes some procedural IL moves ahead of the start of the regular season

The Atlanta Braves made some IL moves today, with Opening Day just two days away from today. None of these moves are particularly surprising, either but it’s still worth talking about, just to get an idea of who’s available, who’s not available and also a general idea of when these players could be back in action.

Here’s the tweet from the Braves announcing the moves:

The #Braves today placed OF Ronald Acuña Jr. (left knee ACL reconstruction), INF Nacho Alvarez Jr. (left wrist inflammation) and C Sean Murphy (fractured left ribcage) on the 10-day injured list, and placed RHP Spencer Strider (right elbow UCL injury) and RHP Joe Jiménez (left…

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) March 25, 2025

The reason why Ronald Acuña Jr. is on the 10-day IL despite more-than-likely returning to action after Spencer Strider is expected to return, it’s because pitchers (and two-way players) are required to go on the 15-day IL and everybody else is eligible for the 10-day IL. So this isn’t to say that Acuña’s going to be back sooner than Strider is but it does mean that they’re both still going to get a decent amount of time to prepare before they make their eventual returns.

Meanwhile, Nacho Alvarez Jr. has been dealing with this injury since late-February and it’s gotten to the point where he’s still going to need some time before he’s healthy again. He’ll also probably be starting the season in Triple-A, so there’s that. Sean Murphy was recently cleared to resume baseball activities but he still likely has a few weeks to wait before he can make a full return. We all know the story about Joe Jiménez and his recovery from major knee surgery, which will very likely cost him most of (if not all of) the 2025 season. He’s going to start on the 15-day IL and the Braves will move him to the 60-day IL whenever they need to open up his spot on the roster. This is also the first time that he’s been officially moved to the IL since having the surgery.

So there you have it! A bit of housecleaning that we all expected but it’s still good to know, nonetheless. The roster picture for the Atlanta Braves is getting clearer and clearer as Opening Day approaches.