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Thus, when it came time for the Braves to announce their 40-man roster on Thursday, it was obvious their focus was on protecting those players who have the opportunity to both immediately and in the long term add to the success of their franchise.

Adam Wainwright and Bubba Nelson, two pitchers who will compete for the fifth spot in the Atlanta rotation this spring, headlined the list of newcomers that also included Roman Colon, Kelly Johnson, Richard Lewis, Tony Pena, Scott Thorman, Blaine Boyer, Jose Capellan and Onil Joseph.

Any player who is drafted out of high school must be added to the 40-man roster following his fourth minor league season to be protected. Those drafted out of college must be added after three seasons in the farm system.

Wainwright, the club's top selection in the 2000 draft, would have certainly been selected in the Rule 5 Draft that will be held on Dec. 15. The right-hander, who went 10-8 with a 3.37 ERA in 27 starts for Double-A Greenville this past year, should be in Atlanta by the start of the 2005 season.

Nelson, a second round selection in the 2000 draft, may be in Atlanta by the start of the 2004 season if he continues to display the talented arm that helped him go 8-10 with a 3.23 ERA at Greenville. After being promoted to Triple-A Richmond in August, the 22-year-old right-hander was 0-1 with a 1.81 ERA in 11 relief appearances.

Lewis, who was a sandwich pick out of Georgia Tech in the 2001 draft, opened some eyes while batting .404 and helping the Mesa Solar Sox win the Arizona Fall League championship earlier this week. The 23-year-old sure-handed infielder has good speed and will look to rebound from the down year he experienced at Greenville this past summer. He will compete with Jesse Garcia and Wilson Betemit for a backup infielder's spot in Atlanta.

Johnson, who hit .303 in the AFL this year, is a power-hitting shortstop that also struggled at Greenville this past summer. The 21-year-old left-handed slugger rose to the top prospect list after drilling 23 homers in 2001 at Class A Macon.

Colon went 11-3 with a 3.36 ERA and two saves, while making just 12 starts for Greenville. He is a 24-year-old right-hander out of the Dominican Republic.

Pena, the namesake of his father, who manages the Kansas City Royals, hit .259 with four homers at Class A Myrtle Beach this year. Thorman, a teammate of Pena's at Myrtle Beach, hit .243 with 12 homers.

Boyer and Capellan are two 22-year-old right-handed pitchers who helped Class A Rome win the South Atlantic League championship this year. While Boyer went 12-8 with a 3.69 ERA, Capellan went 1-2 with a 3.80 ERA in 14 games.

Joseph is a speedy 20-year-old outfielder, who hit .296 with four homers at Rome this year. He was successful in 32 of 54 stolen base attempts.

The Braves now have 37 players (20 pitchers, one catcher, 12 infielders and four outfielders) on their 40-man roster.

In addition to the newcomers, the pitchers include Jung Keun Bong, Paul Byrd, Will Cunnane, Brett Evert, Kevin Gryboski, Mike Hampton, Trey Hodges, Ray King, Jason Marquis, Russ Ortiz, Andy Pratt, Horacio Ramirez, John Smoltz, Chris Waters and Jaret Wright.

Johnny Estrada is the only catcher on the roster. Javy Lopez is a free agent and Henry Blanco was released in October.

The infielders are Betemit, Mark DeRosa, Rafael Furcal, Jesse Garcia, Marcus Giles, Nick Green, Mike Hessman, Johnson, LaRoche and Lewis, Pena and Thorman. The four outfielders are Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones, Ryan Langerhans and Joseph.

Mark Bowman is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.