Atlanta Braves

Atlanta Braves

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.

As an initial stab, you might have guessed that since adopting the power-oriented offensive approach in 2019, the Braves have not been much for accumulating stolen bases. That's fairly intuitive, but unfortunately, it gets somewhat upended by reality. The Braves finished just inside the top ten in team stolen bases in 2018, and then again in 2019. 2020 and 2021 were low-steal years,

The Braves have committed 29 million in 2026 salary to two high-leverage relievers this offseason. Robert Suarez will collect another 32 million (walkout pending) through 2028. That's a lot to allocate to the back end of the bullpen. What does this mean for any more offseason signings? Well, when this front office splashes the cash over relievers it usually means that they found the starting pitching market prohibitively expensive. I don't think this keeps them from making a move at shortstop, though.

It has been a relatively quiet few weeks for the Atlanta Braves following the reunion with closer Raisel Iglesias and acquisition of super utility man (and, perhaps, starting shortstop) Mauricio Dubon, but that does not mean Alex Anthopoulos isn't working on other additions.

Jorge Castillo of ESPN is reporting that the Braves are interested in potentially adding free agent utility man Willi Castro to the squad. They'll have to deal with competition though, as apparently both the Rockies and Pirates are also checking in on Castro as well. Castro picked a pretty bad time to enter the offseason on a down note. Despite the fact that he was solidly productive for the Twins in the first half of the season,

Pope, 27, joins a new organization for the first time in his career. He was added to the roster in the final week of the regular season and got to make one appearance. On September 25th, with the Snakes down 8-0 to the Dodgers, Pope tossed two scoreless innings of mop-up duty. He allowed two hits and a walk while striking out one.

Earlier this year, April 16 to be specific, Spencer Strider made a long-awaited return to the mound after missing nearly the entirety of the 2024 season due to surgery on his elbow. Considering how poor of a start the Braves got off to in 2025, his return was truly a sight for sore eyes and the obvious hope was that his return was the catalyst to help revive both the pitching staff's and the team's fortunes as well.

After posting a .561 OPS for Double-A Mississippi in 2024, there were not any expectations for Ethan heading into the 2025 season.2025 Results Ethan was a key starter for the Columbus Clingstones, appearing in 120 games. He had his ups and downs but on the season Ethan ultimately hit .224/.299/.385 with a team high 16 homers. Ethan had a solid 8.7% walk rate, and fantastic 18% strike out rate, especially considering his power.

We have a lot of things to be thankful for as Braves fans, but I want to shout out a few here: Alex Anthopoulos - Having a really smart, savvy guy in charge of baseball operations is a huge asset for this organization. Anthopoulos has balanced different timeframes really well and has been a responsible steward at the top of what is one of the most respected organizations in the league.

It is a beautiful, late autumn morning as I sip a cup of coffee and watch the lingering, golden yellow leaves of a maple tree fall gently to the ground. The smell of banana bread completing its final minutes of baking wafts through the air. For this, I am thankful. This is the fifth consecutive year that I've been fortunate enough to publish this editorial here at Battery Power.