Atlanta Braves

Atlanta Braves

The wait is finally over, and the Atlanta Braves kick off play in the Grapefruit League this afternoon. Right-hander Carlos Carrasco has been named today's starter against the Tampa Bay Rays. After just a few games with Atlanta last season, Carrasco looks to make an impression in his spring debut. Mike Yastrzemski, Jonah Heim, Eli White and Jorge Mateo will also be getting in on the action and making an appearance in today's matchup. First pitch is slated for 1:05 ET.

When I say that Yaz made his presence felt immediately, I mean it - he hit second for the Braves in this one and he took the first pitch he saw from Rays pitcher T.J. Nichols and crushed it deep to center field to put the Braves ahead early on in this one. Nichols left one right in Yaz's wheelhouse and he made no mistake with it in order to crack his first homer (of spring training) with the Braves.

Yesterday, the baseball world was rocked when MLBPA chief Tony Clark abruptly resigned from his position atop the union amid a scandal involving an "inappropriate relationship" with his sister-in-law, whom he hired to work for the union back in 2023. Clark's departure comes less than a year before the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement on Dec. 1. Rather than go through a lengthy search for a new executive director, there have been indications that the players will look to find a temporary replacement

The college baseball season gets underway today, or I should say is already underway with a 9:30 AM game kicking things off, and some high school seasons have already gotten underway. That means we are officially in MLB Draft season. This is an especially big draft for the Atlanta Braves, thanks to Drake Baldwin. As of today the Braves are sitting on a pair of first round picks, coming in at both No. 9 and No. 26

It was widely expected that the Braves would try to land a playoff caliber starting pitcher this off-season, which obviously has not happened yet. This is not to say that the front office has not tried. It is not like walking into a grocery store and you pick what you want. It takes two parties and a lot of moving parts to get a deal done. This goes with both free agents and trades.

Jonah Heim was a free agent in the first place after he got non-tendered by the Texas Rangers following two underwhelming seasons. He hit .213/.271/.332 with a .266 wOBA and 69 wRC+ last season, which would be an acceptable amount of production for a catcher if their defense was good. Unfortunately for Heim, his defense was not good in 2025 as he graded below average in plenty of defensive catching metrics in 2025.

With a couple of the safer picks rounding out the top 30, we have begun to enter the part of the list that caters to some high upside prospects. Compared to recent years there is a lot more upside, and a lot more tools that are definitely louder than years prior. There is also considerable capital associated with this particular section of the system with high international signing bonuses, as well as a pair of players drafted within the first six rounds.

Well, now we know why the Braves didn't join that pack of ballclubs when it came to making that jump. As it turns out, the Braves are reportedly about to launch their own TV network. Tom Friend of Sports Business Journal is reporting that this is the path that the Braves are going to go down. He laid it out pretty clearly in his article detailing what the Braves and the eight other clubs are planning to do with their TV coverage going forward.

You could spend hours digging deep into a player's profile and identifying reasons why they have good fortune or bad fortune, but in this article, we are going to look at a high-level view of three players. There are few areas you can look right off the bat on to help determine if a player has had bad fortune at the plate. First you can look at a player's weighted on base average (wOBA) versus their expected wOBA (xwOBA).

Sigh, this is a depressing one of these to do. Everything about Spencer Strider was, in theory, so awesome, that it didn't seem like a little thing like a year-long layoff due to elbow troubles was going to derail his career. Surely someone so diligent in being in tune with his body and mechanics could hit the ground running, right? Well, not exactly. After an uneven 2025, Strider's outlook is uncertain, and pretty fraught.

Injuries were the primary culprit, though there were certainly some underperformances as well. Ronald Acuna Jr. and Spencer Strider both missed time, as they did in 2024, and when they played they were still working their way back into form. Getting those stars and others, such as Austin Riley and Matt Olson, back to full capacity and/or productivity is the Braves' best hope for a quick bounce-back. The projections think they have a good chance of getting that.

The 2026 Hall of Fame Class will be announced on Tuesday. Several former Braves on on the ballot for consideration, but the one name that likely is being followed the most is Andruw Jones. In his 9th and second to last year of initial eligibility, Jones is projected to have a very good shot at finally being inducted. While many in Braves Country have been known for years Jones deserves the honor, we will know if it happens in reality in less than 24 hours.