2024 Record: 89-73
General Manager: Alex Anthopoulos (Entering year 8)
Manager: Brian Snitker (Entering year 9)
Notable Offseason Acquisitions: Jurickson Profar (3 years 42 Million), Bryan De La Cruz (1 year 860 Thousand)
Coming off a disappointing end to the 2024 season the Atlanta Braves look to rebound from a playoff sweep against the San Diego Padres. With the expectation that Ronald Acuña Jr and Spencer Strider return early in the season the Braves will look like a legitimate threat for the NL East title. With the offensive threats of Jurickson Profar and Bryan De La Cruz the team has added power to a lineup that had some of their bigger names go down early in the season.
The Braves last season suffered a huge loss with Ronald Acuña Jr going down with a torn ACL playing in only 49 of the Braves’ 162 games Acuña posted 48 hits with four of them being home runs, while also swiping 16 bases in 19 attempts. Acuña has been considered one of the best outfielders in the league, not only for the work he does defensively but he puts his team in positions to win games, with the 16 stolen bases he was getting himself into scoring position or better scoring position to allow his teammate to bring him home. It is safe to say the team will be looking forward to his defense as well. With 102 chances to make an out in 49 games he only missed the ball twice. amounting to a .980 fielding percentage.
Another big name expected to return is Spencer Strider. The flame thrower is missed all but 2 games for Atlanta in 2024 pitching just 9 innings with 12 strikeouts. Despite pitching just 9 innings Strider allowed 7 runs with 2 homeruns. Despite that news being extremely worrisome for many Braves fans, do not panic. Strider at the time was pitching injured, the team saw how dominant a healthy Strider can be in 2023 where he pitched in 32 games where he struck out 281 batters in 186.2 innings pitched.
Braves fans have a lot to look forward to in 2025 with Jurickson Profar being added they now have another player who can hit the ball hard along with play decent defense in the outfield. Profar was a reliable player for the Padres in 2024 playing in 158 of their 162 bringing home 85 rbi’s as well. Profar is also good on defense making just 1 error in 249 chances. It is safe to say the Braves have picked up a good player for the next couple of years.
Braves fans have a lot to look forward to, since the World Series win in 2021 the Braves have made the playoffs every year, showing their fan base that they plan to be competitive. With the expectation that Acuña and Strider will return healthy that will only be a boost for the team. To have a all star outfielder and flamethrower on the mound it is hard to imagine that the Braves don’t at least put up a fight to win the NL East.
