2. Ian Anderson
With Atlanta's lack of offseason moves, someone is going to have to step up to replace two missing starters. Atlanta not only lost Max Fried to the Yankees but lost innings eater Charlie Morton as well. These are key innings the Braves don't have a clear answer to fill heading into the season. Can Ian Anderson find the player he was prior to his 2022 struggles and injury?
It is easy to forget just how dominating Anderson was when he first broke into Atlanta's rotation. The Braves don't win the World Series in 2021 without Ian Anderson's postseason performance. The pitcher would go 2-0 in four starts, giving him a career 4-0 postseason record with a 1.26 ERA. Anderson isn't a starter who simply had one great fluke season. Anderson is battle-tested on the biggest stage and gave Atlanta two seasons of consistently solid starts in the regular season.
What happened in 2022 is the outlier and gives the Braves every reason to believe they can still find this version of the starter three years later.
3. Spencer Strider
Spencer Strider remains one of the most dominating starters in the league. There isn't any reason to believe this will change based on one injury-marred season. Strider has continued to add pitches and find ways to frustrate his opponents. Getting back not only Acuna but Spencer Strider as well is the biggest selling point as to why the Braves are 2025 World Series contenders. What other team could lose their best players and still mount a playoff threat?
Atlanta understood early in the year that it was going to be an uphill battle and continued to find ways to stack wins. Strider is expected to step back into the rotation early in the season and is an easy answer to replacing Max Fried. If Ian Anderson can eat the innings you gave to Charlie Morton, you've already upgraded your rotation and answered the biggest question marks that remain around the 2025 Braves.