The Braves have begun offseason roster housekeeping. Atlanta announced they’ve outrighted five players — outfielder Jarred Kelenic, right-handers Alexis Díaz and Dane Dunning, catcher Sandy León, and utility player Luke Williams — off the 40-man roster. They’ll all be minor league free agents in the next couple weeks.
Atlanta had 11 players finish the season on the 60-day injured list. They’ll all need to be activated or placed on waivers within five days of the end of the World Series. This clears five spots, and two more will open when Raisel Iglesias and Marcell Ozuna reach free agency. Ha-Seong Kim will need to decide on his $16MM player option. They’ll need to drop at least three more players (four if Kim doesn’t opt out) within the next few weeks.
These were all relatively easy cuts, though it marks an unceremonious end to Kelenic’s disappointing time in Atlanta. The Braves took a lot of dead money off Seattle’s books to acquire the former top prospect during the 2023-24 offseason. He hit .231/.286/.393 with a near-30% strikeout rate across 449 plate appearances in 2024.
Atlanta signed Jurickson Profar to replace him as the starting left fielder. With Ronald Acuña Jr. rehabbing ACL surgery and Profar getting suspended for a failed PED test, Kelenic had another shot early in the season. He batted .167 and played his way off the MLB roster by the third week of April. Kelenic’s only MLB appearance after that was as a pinch runner on July 30.
Things were equally bleak in Triple-A. The 25-year-old hit .213/.286/.309 with only four homers while striking out at a 27.6% clip with Gwinnett. Kelenic has never found sustained MLB success but had reliably hit Triple-A pitching until this year. As a former sixth overall pick, he’ll get minor league offers, but it’d be a surprise if he commands a major league contract.
The Braves grabbed Díaz off waivers from the Dodgers in early September. They had roster space to burn and wanted a look at a former All-Star closer who had recorded 28 saves with Cincinnati just last season. Díaz had an uphill path to a 2026 bullpen spot and certainly didn’t do much to convince the Braves to keep him around. He walked five batters and gave up five runs (four earned) in 2 2/3 innings. Díaz had a nightmare season between three teams, giving up 17 runs over 17 2/3 big league frames. He also struggled to a 5.61 ERA across 25 2/3 Triple-A innings.
Díaz made $4.5MM this year in his first trip through arbitration. He would’ve made something close to or matching that if he were tendered a contract. That’s an easy pass for the team coming off the season he had. Díaz has never had strong command, and his velocity and strikeouts have dipped since his excellent first two MLB campaigns. The 29-year-old could also be in minor league deal territory.
The Braves acquired Dunning from the Rangers in July. It was a salary dump for Texas and one of a number of buy-low fliers that Atlanta took as members of their pitching staff kept dropping to injuries. Dunning was an up-and-down reliever for the Braves and gave up 12 earned runs in 10 innings. León, a longtime third or fourth catcher, finished the season on the MLB roster after Sean Murphy underwent hip surgery. He appeared in five games and went 1-12. Williams got into 45 contests as the last man off the bench and designated position player pitcher in blowouts. He hit .129 and owns a career .212/.270/.280 slash over 349 plate appearances.
Future KBO superstar Jarred Kelenic.
Wait if they’re sent to Gwinnett are they allowed to leave, or are they stuck there indefinitely like the Capitol One guy who sleeps in his pyjammies at the branch im worried will they get to eat.
AA screwed the pooch on that Kelelnic deal.
Can’t win them all. He gambled and lost on that one.
And he blew it extending Michael Harris II. Good general manager, not what he is often idealized as.
Head case, a little too much intensity. I feel for that cooler.
I’ll take 4 Kelenic deals if it gets me 1 Sale deal.
Can’t bake a cake without breakin’ a few eggs.
Or break coolers…
Gwinnnet isn’t that Coldplay chic that lot of people don’t like in the 80s
Gwennet Stefani, 90’s ska-punk goddess. Coldplay chic couldn’t hold a candle to her. I wouldn’t mind being outrighted to Gwennet either.
In other words, you would holla back at that girl!
Yep, be perfectly happy in that dugout.
That’s quite a prospect haul circa 2021
Kelenic got almost every vote
for the Dookie of the year!
I am appalled and aghast Kelenic was able to clear waivers. C”mon not even Pittsburgh wanted to tap into this upside play ??
Wow, what a hard fall from grace for Alexis Diaz.
When Alexis lost it, he really lost it.
Cole Phillips is eternally injured.
Bigger surprise: how quickly Diaz lost the ability to pitch or Kelenic losing what little ability he had to hit?
Diaz losing the ability to pitch. Kelenic, aside from like April 2023, has done very little else in the Major Leagues. Diaz was a legit late-inning/high-leverage option for 2 years.
Agreed.
Kelenic was always potential but Diaz actually had success at the MLB level.
What the hell was AA thinking? Just a god awful trade.
Kelenic will be known best for giving Raleigh his Big Dumper nickname .
Should of traded him th the Angels for Soler
The 2018 draft is pretty fascinating to look at now:
mlb.com/news/mlb-draft-pick-by-pick-selections-ana…
Kelenic at 6 made a ton of sense considering the way the board fell for Seattle. Can’t really call it a huge miss given his grade and their position.
Kyler Murray to the A’s turned out to be quite a story.
Boston snagging Casas at 26 looks like a steal now.
I thought Joey Bart was going to be a stud. He’s been pretty good as a Pirate.
Wasn’t Kelenic offered a significant contract by Seattle to buy out several years of his free agency that he turned down? Or am I thinking of someone else?
No you’re right. He turned down i believe a 8-9yr extension at the time. He should’ve taken it.
Kelenic is the poster child for why young players are called prospects.