Syracuse Announces Its 2013 Opening Day Roster

As noted in the comments, the Syracuse Chiefs “revealed a preliminary roster” yesterday, beginning with a feature on the starting pitchers.

If you have a fixation for uniform numbers, you’re going to have to wait a few more days — just only handful of players have numbers listed so far. Otherwise, here’s how the active roster looks like (watchlist players in bold, notables in italics):

Like the AAA club of most contenders, Syracuse is laden with replacement-level veterans. Three of the five starting pitchers have significant MLB experience (Maya, Ohlendorf, Perry), as do three of the active relievers (Abad, Accardo, Romero) and fourth on the D.L. (Bray).

Both catchers have served as injury fill-ins and will probably split time, which is the best explanation for Leon starting in Harrisburg (not to mention his limited AA experience of 40 games).

For us, the eyes are on the infield: all four projected starters (Rivero-Walters-Kobernus-Marrero) are at the top of their columns on the 2013 watchlist. Unfortunately, they’re (take your pick) stuck/blocked/stranded behind their counterparts in D.C.

Never mind there’s a 22-year-old in Harrisburg that everybody and their grandmother wants to see in a Chiefs uniform yesterday, if not sooner.

Corey Brown returns for his third season and will probably play in right field, given the duo of LF-1B types in Owings and Van Ostrand and the presence of true CF Eury Perez, though it shouldn’t surprise anyone if both Brown and Perez are used in multiple OF spots in preparation for their most likely usage as a defensive replacement off the bench if/when they’re called up to Washington.

Finally, it should probably come as no surprise to see the large contingent starting on the D.L. including the law firm trio of Kimball, Komatsu, and Meyers. As we saw in the comments, some of those guys won’t leave Viera and will cool their heels in “Extended Spring Training.”

UPDATE: Per Byron Kerr, the Syracuse Opening Day roster includes Ryan Tatusko while Sam Palace has been removed from the D.L. and Jason Michaels apparently will be strictly coaching.