Syracuse Announces Its 2014 Opening Day Roster
Coming on the heels (i.e. roughly 29 minutes later) of the Senators announcement, the Syracuse Chiefs also announced its 2014 Opening Day roster (watchlist players in bold, notables in italics):
| PITCHERS | INFIELDERS | OUTFIELDERS | CATCHERS |
| Xavier Cedeno | Emmanuel Burriss | Brian Goodwin | Jeff Howell |
| Manny Delcarmen | Brandon Laird | Jeff Kobernus | Jhonatan Solano |
| Christian Garcia | Brock Peterson | Tyler Moore | |
| Taylor Hill | Will Rhymes | Eury Perez | |
| Warner Madrigal | Zach Walters | Steve Souza | |
| Ryan Mattheus | |||
| Omar Poveda | |||
| Tyler Roberston | |||
| Josh Roenicke | |||
| Danny Rosenbaum | |||
| Daniel Stange | |||
| Ryan Tatusko | |||
| Blake Treinen |
As has become common in AAA, there are a lot of new faces on this team. Yes, there are 14 players who played here at some point last year, but only about seven of them had any significant playing time. Eight of these 25 were acquired this past offseason, and just nine of these players were drafted by the Nationals.
Last year, it was the infield. This year, all eyes will be on the (listed) outfield(ers), and on Brian Goodwin and Steve Souza in particular. Despite Perez being the superior fielder, he’ll most likely spend time in left field to give Goodwin developmental time, and all signs point to Souza continuing to work in right field (130 of 151 games in the OF).
Obviously, Moore and Kobernus will be plugged in at 1B and 2B respectively as well as LF and DH to keep them ready for a possible callup to DC where they’d most likely be used as bench players
The Chiefs have announced a starting rotation of Rosenbaum, Tatuskso, Treinen, Hill, and Poveda. If you’re wondering where Sammy Solis is, so am I — none of the affiliates have announced their DLs yet.
On to the Suns…
And Bradley Meyers who is on a throwing program in XST otherwise as Springfield Fan projected he’d likely be in this rotation?
Sigh and it looks like we may have missed another release? Erik Komatsu.
It will be interesting to see how the lineups shake out in Syracuse. I guess I could see an infield of Moore (1b), Kobernus (2b), Walters (SS), and Peterson (3b) and an OF of Souza, Goodwin and Perez.
Peterson instead of Rhymes? Rhymes is the left-handed hitter. Peterson does provide some significant pop though.
Laird at third?
Rosenbaum will be the opening day starter. Good for him!
How come Treinen isn’t on the watchlist?
That’s a good question — at the time that I drew it up he was coming off a mediocre season at Harrisburg, and the buzz that surrounded him during ST hadn’t happened yet. Let’s fix that.
Sammy Solis is at extended Spring Training in Viera as he works through that back injury.