Minor League Baseball is officially back as Gwinnett kicks off their 2025 season on Friday.
After a long winter, minor league baseball is officially back as the Gwinnett Stripers take to the road to square off against the Charlotte Knights. First pitch is scheduled for 7:04 ET. The rest of the Atlanta Braves’ minor league teams — not including FCL and DSL squads — will play their first games next Friday, April 4.
Starting lineups
Fresh off his 2024 campaign which saw him be selected as an International League All-Star, Bryce Elder gets the opening day start for Gwinnett — his second time receiving the nod with the Stripers in the season’s first game.
Can’t believe we actually get to play baseball tonight. This is the best day ever.
: Charlotte, NC
⏰: 7:04pm
/ : https://t.co/cmnejyxmQn
️: https://t.co/LyiOykgKGx pic.twitter.com/sLCH2nljSU— Gwinnett Stripers (@GoStripers) March 28, 2025
In the opposing dugout, there are plenty of interesting names to keep an eye on. Former top Braves prospect Jared Shuster will suit up for the Knights to start his season. Top prospects for the White Sox, including catchers Edgar Quero and Kyle Teel, along with infielders Colson Montgomery and Chase Meidroth are also featured on Charlotte’s roster.
Players to watch
With only one game to choose from, our efforts to choose a player to watch on Friday is fairly easy.
There are a plethora of arms at Gwinnett that could make an impact on the big league squad at some point in 2025. Buck Farmer, Davis Daniel, Domingo Gonzalez and Amos Willingham are all 40-man roster guys who could see some time out of the Stripers’ bullpen on Friday.
On the position side, there are also a few guys who are intriguing, but would most-likely only see Atlanta in the event of an injury or two. Garrett Cooper, Jake Marisnick and Conner Capel are all guys with various amounts of major league experience, while others like Luke Waddell and Jose Devers are still young enough to have a little bit of intrigue as to what types of players they could respectively become.
For today, however, we’ll stick with the obvious choice in choosing Bryce Elder as our player to watch.
Here at the Stripers, we offer competitive Bryce-ing.
(you really thought you escaped the bad puns on pitcher names??) pic.twitter.com/rNxpj8nyML
— Gwinnett Stripers (@GoStripers) March 28, 2025
Elder spent most of his 2024 season with Gwinnett, making 17 starts while pitching to a 3.73 ERA and striking out 102 batters in 101.1 innings.
This is essentially a make-or-break year for Elder and it will be important for him to get off to a hot start in order to push his name to the top of the list in the event the Braves need a spot starter or someone to fill a rotation spot down the line.