The turning of the calendar from 2025 to 2026 has come and gone, which makes this as perfect of a time as any to start to take a bit of an inventory of sorts when it comes to how the 2026 Atlanta Braves are shaping up. It also gives us an excuse to really start looking towards the future instead of focusing on the recent past (which, um, wasn’t great!) and the shortcomings that resulted from this past rough season.
Fortunately, the outlook is pretty positive at the moment, since the Braves have been busy in a good way so far during the offseason. With pitchers and catchers set to report next month (!!!), it’s safe to say that this team has been improved — on paper, at least. Sure, the games still have to be played but I’d imagine that everybody here at least feels better about the look of this squad than they did about last year’s squad.
Now granted, we had high hopes for last year’s squad as well but part of that was also hoping that a lot of “ifs” with this team could turn into something. Last year, those “ifs” ended up turning into nightmares in a lot of cases. Now, there’s a decent amount of certainty that this team will be more fortified in its weak spots while also being deeper as well. So let’s take a look, shall we?
When you’ve got the reigning NL Rookie of the Year returning at such an important position, it’s hard to have to many worries about this particular spot. Drake Baldwin is coming back and assuming he doesn’t have to deal with the whole “sophomore slump” thing, he’ll likely continue to build upon the strong foundation that he built with his performance last season. We’ll probably see him take on a larger role with the catcher’s spot — Sean Murphy will still figure to be important as well but considering the fact that he’s coming off of a serious hip injury (one that he had been dealing with for three (3!) years), it seems likely that Baldwin will be getting the majority of starts going forward in 2026 and we could see Murphy get plenty of time serving as the DH. We’ll take a look at that spot later.
Matt Olson has played every single game since arriving in Atlanta ahead of the 2022 season and assuming he continues this remarkable run of durability, the Braves won’t have much to worry about at this position. The main question is whether or not Olson will continue his pattern of following up a great season with a down year or if he’ll take another step back. We’ll see what happens but it’s not like the Braves have any urgent worries at this spot.
The Braves decided to exercise their club option on Ozzie Albies for this upcoming season and while it seemed like a no-brainer considering the price, there’s also reason to feel like the Braves should probably start envisioning what the future of the second base position looks like going forward. Albies matched his 2024 production of 1.3 fWAR with another 1.3 fWAR, except his 2025 production was pretty concerning considering he played 157 games last season compared to just 99 in 2024. Three of his past four seasons have seen him produce less than 100 wRC+ at the plate and he hasn’t been performing at a level with the glove that would be good enough to offset those offensive struggles.
So while I’d say that barring a complete disaster, it will once again be a no-brainer for the Braves to re-up for 2027 and see this contract out to the end, I will say that they should start figuring out a way to make sure that the transition from Ozzie at second to whoever follows him at that position is as smooth and painless as possible.
Ha-Seong KimMauricio Dubon
So far, this is where the Braves have made their biggest upgrade when compared to this time last year. Ha-Seong Kim served as Atlanta’s shortstop for the final month of the season and while he wasn’t spectacular by any means, it was enough to justify his decision to opt-out and enough to convince the Braves that it was worth it to pay him an extra $4 million for 2026 on top of the $16 million that he would’ve raked in had he opted in.
With Kim, the Braves are obviously hoping that he’ll return to the form that he reached during his time in San Diego with the Padres. If that’s the case, then Atlanta will have no problems whatsoever at the shortstop position. Meanwhile, Atlanta also added Mauricio Dubón via trade and the Kim signing helped make sure that the Braves are able to utilize Dubón’s capabilities as a super utility player to their best abilities. Shortstop will probably be where Dubón gets the most appearances but he can play all over the infield and his presence alone should provide a massive boost to Atlanta’s bench.
When Riley has been on the field, things have worked out for the most part. However, he hasn’t reached the lofty levels of 2022 and 2023 when he was arguably one of the best third basemen in all of baseball and injuries sure haven’t helped matters for him, either. An abdomen injury brought his 2025 to an early end, which was a bummer since this ended up being one of those example where coming back too early can cause some catastrophic results.
The clear hope here is that Riley can stay healthy and at least return to something approaching the form that he reached during his heyday from a few years ago. ZiPS seems to be a believer as their early projections have him producing 3.9 WAR in 2026, which would be lovely and put the Braves in a solid spot going forward. The Braves definitely need Riley to perform at a high level again if they’re going to have hopes of not just returning to the Postseason but making a deep run as well.
Well, the good news with Acuña is that he assuaged a lot of concerns with his playing ability following his second ACL tear. He hit the ground running and put up some massive numbers before slowing down due to other injuries towards the end of last season. Fortunately, it appears that he’s having a full and healthy offseason and while injuries every now and then are always a concern with Acuña, his performance as a player is nothing to worry about. As long as he’s on the field (or DH’ing), Acuña’s going to play at a high level.
2025 was an absolute doozy of a season for Michael Harris II in equally good and bad ways. Harris spent the first half of 2025 as one of the worst everyday players in all of baseball and then proceeded to follow that up with a fantastic second half of the season. Money Mike dealt in volatility for most of 2025 and it would be lovely if that volatility settled into something more consistently productive at the plate in 2026. There’s no question about his defensive performance, which is the only reason why he continued to play a ton while he was busy scuffling at the plate to begin 2025.
Harris is one of the most tantalizing players on this roster because it’s fun to imagine what’ll happen if/when he puts it all together. For now, it’s still a hope more than an expectation — especially if he still struggles to find a way to get on base outside of hits due to his paltry walk rate.
Jurickson ProfarMike Yastrzemski
I’ve got Yaz listed here in left field but it’s likely that he’ll be available to give a spell to all of the outfielders at some point if they need it. Or, depending on how Profar plays, Yz could very well be getting the majority of starts in the outfield as the season progresses. Either way, the Braves have options and depth in the outfield and left field in particular appears to be fully set. Jurickson Profar definitely hurt the Braves by missing 80 games last season due to PED usage and he also hurt the Braves due to his poor defense as a while. Sure, he made some highlight-reel caches from time to time but it’s hard to outweigh the consistently rough play in the field. If that defense continues to be rough, then we’ll likely see Yaz in the field more often while Profar joins the DH rotation.
Assuming they decide not to bring back Marcell Ozuna, it’s clear what direction the Braves are going with the DH. It’s going to be by committee and I’d imagine that we’ll likely see guys like Profar, Acuña, Yaz and the catchers filling this spot as the season progresses. While they won’t have a dedicated DH, this absolutely won’t be a weak spot for the Braves since any one of those guys is a perfectly capable hitter. An injury crisis would hurt this team in that regard but for now, things look fine at DH.
Chris SaleSpencer SchwellenbachSpencer StriderHurston WaldrepReynaldo LópezGrant Holmes
Well, as long as all five of Atlanta’s Opening Day rotation members don’t hit the 60-Day IL again, things should automatically be better for Atlanta’s starting rotation in that regard. It was an intense challenge for this front office to get enough arms to make sure there was even something resembling a capable rotation for this team for long stretches of 2025, so good health alone should provide a boost for Atlanta’s pitching staff in 2026.
As a result, the Braves could go from being in a place where anybody who was healthy and could eat 3-5 innings was going to take the mound to start to now hopefully having a spirited competition for spots in the back of the rotation. Chris Sale figures to continue being the top dog in the rotation, Spencer Schwellenbach and Reynaldo López are reportedly pain-free and ready to go, Spencer Strider is still a work in progress but figures to be healthy and part of the rotation and then that leaves the fifth spot. Grant Holmes also figures to be healthy but Hurtson Waldrep will surely be making a go at making the Opening Day roster after his successful rookie campaign.
With all of that being said, no matter who makes it onto the Opening Day rotation, health will continue to be the key. With all due respect to Bryce Elder, he absolutely can’t be the team leader in innings pitched again if the Braves expect to make it back to the Postseason. Or maybe a big trade before the start of the season could be the key? We’ll see what happens.
Raisel IglesiasRobert SuarezDylan LeeAaron BummerJoel PayampsDylan DoddJoe Jimenez
This isn’t a complete list since we all know the bullpen will have some churn over the course of any given season but for now, the main focus is on those two top names. Iglesias and Suarez should hopefully form a very formidable one-two punch that should help shorten games for Atlanta and give them a mighty edge in late, high-leverage innings. As long as we don’t get anything catastrophic from the res tof the pen, just having those two near the back should lift the rest of the bullpen as a result.
It’s not just me saying that this team has been improved — The Athletic recently had the Braves as one of their seven most-improved teams in all of baseball and were also described in another article as having “improved their depth and their chances.” It’s not going to be easy for this team to return to the top of the perch in the NL East (and baseball as a whole) but they’re better equipped to give it a shot now than they were last year. Hopefully we’ll see a much improved team next season and we actually get something to be excited about going forward.
