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Padres Sign A.J. Preller To Multi-Year Extension

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The Padres and president of baseball operations A.J. Preller have agreed to a multi-year contract extension, per a team announcement. The exact terms of Preller’s new deal are not yet known.

Preller, 48, was entering the final year of his contract in 2026 but now figures to continue his work at the helm in San Diego for the foreseeable future. He began his tenure with the Padres late in the 2014 season, and while it took several years for him to pull the organization out of the basement of the National League they’ve become one of the NL’s premiere teams during the 2020s. The team has gone to the playoffs four times in the last six seasons, with a 470-400 record during that time that’s good for a .540 winning percentage. The Padres have only made it to the NLCS once in that timeframe, but it’s still undeniably the most successful stretch in franchise history given that the organization had just five postseason appearances under its belt in the 45 years it existed prior to Preller joining the team.

After more than a decade leading the Padres, Preller has become well-known among fans all across baseball as the league’s most free-wheeling executive. He pilots the Padres with dynamic energy, frequently making the sort of aggressive trades that most front office leaders around the game would shy away from. The results, in terms of stars brought into the fold, have spoken for themselves. In recent years, Preller has traded for Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Josh Hader, Joe Musgrove, Mason Miller, Dylan Cease, and Juan Soto at the height of their careers in order to augment a lineup built around likely future Hall of Famer Manny Machado and homegrown star Fernando Tatis Jr.

Impressive as Preller’s work to turn the Padres franchise into one of the premiere organizations in the majors has been, it’s not been without flaws. Extensions for players like Machado, Tatis, Darvish, Musgrove, and Jake Cronenworth (as well as the free agent deal signed by Xander Bogaerts) have contributed to a bogged-down payroll that has limited the team’s flexibility in recent seasons and forced some creative moves such as trading away Soto ahead of his final year under team control, as well as signing players like Nick Pivetta and Michael King to unorthodox contracts in order to fill out the rotation. Preller and his front office have managed to pull off the balancing act of keeping the team’s spending under control without trading away Tatis or another major asset under long-term club control from the big league club so far.

It’s a task that figures to only get more difficult as time goes on. For now, though, Preller has managed to keep his house of cards in San Diego from collapsing well enough to earn himself the opportunity to continue the work, and it’s not terribly hard to see why ownership would have confidence in his abilities. Preller’s penchant for trading away top prospects (including CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, James Wood, and Leo De Vries) has been compensated for by a knack for consistently churning out high-rated prospects, a few of which (such as Tatis and Jackson Merrill) have even made their way to the majors as impactful pieces of the club. Preller has also developed a knack for putting together talented bullpens stocked with high-end talent. Even after losing players like Hader and Robert Suarez, the team can still field an elite relief corps thanks to Miller, Adrian Morejon, Jeremiah Estrada, Jason Adam, and others.

Notably, the vote of confidence Preller is receiving from ownership comes at a time when the team is in the midst of a transition at its highest levels. Longtime owner Peter Seidler abruptly passed away from cancer back in 2023, and since then the team has been under the control of a variety of Seidler’s family members and associates are various points in time. After some internal drama regarding the future of the franchise, things appear to be headed towards a potential sale of the franchise as the Seidler family announced that they’re exploring that possibility back in November. It’s unclear whether a sale will come to fruition at all, much less if progress is being made on that front. With that said, if a sale were to occur in the next couple of years, this extension ensures that Preller will remain in place to help guide the team through that transition on the field and provide some stability to the hypothetical new ownership group as they get settled in.

The Opener: Full Squad Workouts, Braves, Marlins

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Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day today:

1. Full Squad Workouts:

Spring Training is kicking into full gear, and yesterday saw the first handful of teams have full squad workouts yesterday. That continues today with additional teams. In Arizona’s Cactus League, the A’s, Cubs, Reds, Royals, and Angels all have their position players reporting today. Meanwhile, the Grapefruit League in Florida will host full squad workouts for the Orioles, Astros, Marlins, Twins, Mets, Yankees, Phillies, Pirates, Cardinals, Blue Jays, and Nationals today. Alex Bregman (Cubs), Pete Alonso (Orioles), Bo Bichette (Mets), Kazuma Okamoto (Blue Jays), Eugenio Suarez (Reds), Jeff McNeil (A’s), Isaac Collins (Royals), and Ryan O’Hearn (Pirates) are among a large number of players suiting up for new teams for the first time today.

2. Will the Braves add a starter?

The latest news out of Atlanta is not exactly encouraging, as right-hander Hurston Waldrep is battling elbow soreness and is scheduled to meet with surgeon Dr. Keith Meister later today. It’s unclear exactly how long Waldrep will be sidelined, and an MRI revealed no structural damage, but with Spencer Schwellenbach already on the 60-day injured list there’s a great deal of urgency for the Braves to put together some depth for their rotation, lest they enter the season already leaning on depth pieces like Bryce Elder and Martin Perez. Fortunately for them, players like Lucas Giolito, Zack Littell, and Max Scherzer remain available in free agency who could potentially help stabilize things in the team’s rotation. Of course, Alex Anthopoulos and his front office have long been known to buck expectations, and it’s certainly possible they could instead look to pivot to the trade market or find another creative solution to their rotation conundrum.

3. Bendix, Sherman to speak at Marlins camp:

As Spring Training kicks off, Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix and club owner Bruce Sherman are both expected to speak to the media this morning, as noted by Isaac Azout of Fish On First. Those comments from Bendix and Sherman will come on the heels of a busy offseason for the Marlins where they traded away Edward Cabrera and Ryan Weathers while also adding Pete Fairbanks to the bullpen, Chris Paddack to the rotation, and Owen Caissie to the lineup. It’s not hard to see why fans might view that as more subtraction than addition, at least when it comes to the big league club, though a rotation of Sandy Alcantara, Eury Perez, Braxton Garrett, Max Meyer, and Paddack still figures to be a very impressive one headed into the 2026 campaign, Fairbanks is a proven and decorated closer for the bullpen, and Caissie could certainly develop into a middle of the order, impact bat for the club. Bendix and Sherman could offer additional insight into the team’s internal expectations and plans for the remainder of the spring this morning.

Diamondbacks Claim Grant Holman

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The Diamondbacks have claimed right-hander Grant Holman off waivers from the Athletics, per a team announcement. Holman was designated for assignment by the A’s last week to make room for Aaron Civale on the club’s 40-man roster. Southpaw A.J. Puk was placed on the 60-day injured list to make room for Holman on the 40-man roster.

Holman, 26 in May, was a sixth-round pick by the A’s back in 2021 and made his MLB debut in 2024. That first taste of MLB action went fairly well, as he pitched to a 4.00 ERA (100 ERA+) with a solid 3.87 FIP across 18 appearances, striking out 22.0% of his opponents despite an elevated 12.3% walk rate. It was a good debut overall and seemed to portend a larger role with the A’s in 2025, but things unfortunately did not work out that way. While he did make more appearances in 2025, they weren’t especially effective as he wound up posting a lackluster 5.09 ERA in 23 innings of work. His peripherals weren’t much better, as he posted a 4.66 FIP and his strikeout rate fell to 16.5%.

Perhaps he would’ve gotten more of a look at the big league level had injuries not gotten in the way, but rotator cuff tendinitis sidelined him for the majority of the 2025 campaign. He threw just 32 1/3 innings between the majors and minors in total, though his 9 1/3 scoreless frames at Triple-A with a 31.0% strikeout rate did suggest there could be some upside in Holmes’s profile if he can just stay healthy long enough to reach it. Regardless, the A’s had seen enough and cut him loose earlier this week as they beefed up their pitching staff with more veteran additions.

Still, Holman’s upside was intriguing enough for the Diamondbacks to the roll the dice on him. That’s an understandable decision to make for the club given their need for help in the bullpen this year with both Puk and Justin Martinez set to start the year on the injured list as they rehab from elbow surgeries. Puk will be back sooner than Martinez, having undergone UCL revision surgery rather than full Tommy John, but even he is expected back at some point in June at the earliest. That gives the Diamondbacks a few months where they’ll need to patch together a bullpen using veterans like Michael Soroka and Paul Sewald as well as youngsters like Kade Strowd and Andrew Hoffmann. Holman figures to be part of that latter group, and will compete for a role in the Opening Day bullpen for the club during Spring Training. Should he miss out on a roster spot to open the season, he’ll head to Triple-A and join players like Philip Abner and Juan Morillo in the mix for a call-up when injuries or roster churn necessitate it.

Giants Sign Will Brennan To Major League Deal

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1:38pm: The Associated Press reports that Brennan’s deal is a split contract that pays him $900K when in the majors and $400K in the minors.

11:11am: The Giants announced this morning that they’ve signed outfielder Will Brennan to a one-year, major league contract. Brennan was non-tendered by the Guardians back in November. Right-hander Rowan Wick was placed on the 60-day injured list to open up a spot on the 40-man roster for Brennan.

Brennan, 28, was sidelined throughout 2026 by surgeries on his left UCL and groin, but Justice de los Santos of Mercury News reports that Brennan is full-go entering camp with no restrictions. An eighth-round pick by Cleveland back in 2019 who made his big league debut in 2022, he’s slashed .267/.307/.373 (90 wRC+) in parts of four seasons in the majors but has just 269 games in the majors thanks to an injury-plagued start to his young career.

Looking at Brennan’s last mostly healthy season in 2024, he slashed .264/.309/.388 (98 wRC+) in 114 games for the Guardians that year. That’s roughly replacement level production, but a closer look reveals that he was actually considerably more effective when healthy. Brennan slashed .256/.314/.415 (107 wRC+) prior to a bout of rib cage inflammation that sent him to the injured list, and when he came back in July he didn’t look quite right and struggled badly with a nine-game hitless streak. After being optioned to Triple-A for a couple of weeks, he returned in early August and slashed .330/.349/.408 (117 wRC+) the rest of the way.

All of that is to say Brennan has flashed impressive potential at times but struggled to stay healthy for long enough to put it all together. That makes him a worthwhile roll of the dice for a Giants team that already has a full outfield (featuring Heliot Ramos, Harrison Bader, and Jung Hoo Lee) on paper but could certainly make room for another big bat if Brennan manages to hit his way into the lineup. His contact-oriented, low-strikeout profile is a familiar one to a club that already employs Lee and Luis Arraez, and it’s easy to look at Lee’s 2025 season (107 wRC+, 2.4 fWAR) as the sort of campaign Brennan might be hoping to put together in 2026.

Brennan has options remaining and could be sent to the minors in the event that he struggles or is otherwise squeezed off the roster, making the deal a fairly low-risk one for the Giants. For now, he’ll look to prove he’s healthy and compete for a bench job with the Giants alongside fellow outfielders Drew Gilbert, Luis Matos, and Grant McCray.

As for Wick, the righty was signed by the Giants last week to a big league deal following an impressive run in Nippon Professional Baseball with the Yokohama DeNA Bay Stars. The former Cubs reliever underwent Tommy John surgery during his time with the Bay Stars and is not expected to pitch in 2026, so his placement on the 60-day IL is hardly a shock.

Mets Claim Ben Rortvedt Off Waivers From Dodgers

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The Mets have claimed catcher Ben Rortvedt off waivers from the Dodgers, according to a report from Anthony DiComo of MLB.com. Right-hander Dedniel Nunez was transferred to the 60-day injured list to make room for Rortvedt on the 40-man roster.

Rortvedt was designated for assignment by the Dodgers earlier this week in order to make room for Evan Phillips on the club’s 40-man roster. Rortvedt made his big league debut with the Twins back in 2021, and since then has bounced between the Yankees, Rays, and Dodgers organizations at the big league level. His best season came in 2024 as a member of the Rays, where he slashed .228/.317/.303 with a wRC+ of 87 and 1.4 fWAR in 112 games. Rortvedt graded out as an above average catcher in terms of blocking and pitch framing, though he threw out baserunners at a below average clip.

Overall, Rortvedt has a strong reputation defensively as a catcher and that’s why he managed to catch on with the Dodgers as their primary option to backup Will Smith down the stretch and into the playoffs when Dalton Rushing was injured. Rortvedt even made some appearances in the postseason with the Dodgers and went 3-for-7 with a double during the playoffs for Los Angeles, earning himself a World Series ring with the club this past fall. He re-signed in L.A. on a small MLB guarantee and in the weeks since then has rode the DFA carousel around the league as teams try to sneak him through waivers to serve as a depth catcher. He’s been claimed by the Reds, then re-claimed by the Dodgers, and is now being claimed by the Mets.

Now that he’s headed to New York, Rortvedt still figures to be the third catcher on the team’s depth chart behind youngster Francisco Alvarez and well-regarded defender Luis Torrens. Rortvedt does not have options remaining, so the Mets will either have to designate him for assignment or carry three catchers on their roster if an injury doesn’t open up a spot for him at some point before Opening Day. In the meantime, however, he’ll join the Mets in Spring Training, working with the team’s pitchers and preparing for the 2026 season. For as long as Rortvedt remains in the organization, he’ll likely push catcher Hayden Senger further down the club’s depth chart. Senger made his MLB debut last year and slashed just .181/.221/.194 in 33 games as a 28-year-old last year, but does provide the Mets with optionable depth behind the plate.

Cubs Designate Ben Cowles For Assignment

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The Cubs officially announced their signing of right-hander Shelby Miller today, and in a corresponding move designated infielder Ben Cowles for assignment.

Cowles, who celebrates his 26th birthday today, has not yet made his MLB debut. He was a tenth-round pick by the Yankees back in 2021 and climbed his way through the minors before being traded alongside right-hander Jack Neely to the Cubs in exchange for right-hander Mark Leiter Jr. at the 2024 trade deadline. Cowles was injured at the time of the trade and appeared in just four games with the Cubs organization that year, but was promoted to Triple-A headed into the 2025 season.

His age-25 campaign wasn’t anything to get excited about. Cowles hit a middling .238/.304/.382 in 462 trips to the plate with the Iowa Cubs, with nine homers and 16 steals while playing mostly shortstop and also getting occasional reps at second and third base. He was designated for assignment by the Cubs in September to make room for Carlos Santana on the 40-man roster, and was claimed by the crosstown rival White Sox shortly thereafter. Cowles appeared in just 15 games for the team’s Triple-A affiliate down the stretch and was DFA’d once again in January to make room for Munetaka Murakami on the 40-man roster.

That allowed the Cubs to reclaim him, and while he doesn’t have a clear path to a bench role in the majors at this point given the presence of Matt Shaw on the roster, it wouldn’t have been a shock to see him make his big league debut in a bench role for Chicago at some point this year in the event of an injury somewhere on the big league club. Now, however, Chicago will have one week to either trade Cowles to try to pass him through waivers. If he gets through waivers unclaimed successfully, he’ll be assigned outright to Triple-A and serve as non-roster depth for the Cubs going into the season. Should he be claimed, he’ll join the claiming team’s 40-man roster and depart the organization for the second time in the past six months.

Even without Cowles, the Cubs have decent infield depth behind Shaw for a bench role if needed. Scott Kingery and Owen Miller are veterans who joined the organization on minor league deals this winter, while prospects James Triantos, B.J. Murray, and Pedro Martinez all figure to start the year at Triple-A but could be depth options for the Cubs at some point this year if a need should arise.

Orioles Exploring Trades Of Coby Mayo, Ryan Mountcastle

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Even as Spring Training begins to get underway, the Orioles are continuing to explore trade possibilities involving Coby Mayo and Ryan Mountcastle, according to a report from Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic.

That news comes in spite of recent news that second baseman Jackson Holliday has undergone hamate surgery, which is expected to sideline him for the start of the season. That news creates a path for the Orioles to roster both Mayo and Mountcastle by moving Jordan Westburg to second base in Holliday’s absence and playing Mayo at the hot corner, where he’s gotten most of his reps throughout his career. Of course, that’s a less than ideal solution given that Mayo’s lackluster defense at third base is what prompted the club to explore the option of using him in a first base/DH role in the first place. Whether Mayo ultimately winds up playing third on Opening Day or not, however, the Orioles will struggle to find roles for both Mountcastle and Mayo throughout the year given the presence of Pete Alonso at first base, Taylor Ward in left field, and the club’s desire to utilize Samuel Basallo at DH when he’s not backing up Adley Rutschman behind the plate.

Rosenthal notes that Mayo would have more value than Mountcastle on the trade market, and that’s certainly the case. Mayo is a former top prospect who has not yet broken through at the big league level, but he posted a decent 95 wRC+ in 85 games last year, including a 109 wRC+ after the All-Star break. Mayo only just celebrated his 24th birthday in December, has six seasons of team control remaining, and is still making the league minimum salary. That should make him a very attractive potential option for clubs interested in adding some right-handed pop in a corner, though the Orioles would surely be looking for a significant return for such a well-regarded young player.

Mountcastle, on the other hand, shouldn’t cost much in trade at all. The six-year MLB veteran will celebrate his 29th birthday later this week, and while he was a career .265/.316/.450 (111 wRC+) hitter entering last year, an injury-marred 2025 campaign left him with an 81 wRC+ in just 89 games last year. He avoided being non-tendered by the Orioles somewhat surprisingly this past winter and is now set to play on a one-year deal that guarantees him $6.787MM and comes with a $7.5MM club option for the 2027 season. That club option creates some upside for an acquiring club, as it would allow them to retain Mountcastle next year if he bounces back to his career norms. Even so, Mountcastle was a below replacement level player last year and is making a salary that’s hardly insignificant. With players like Ty France and Rhys Hoskins still available in free agency for nothing but money, it would be a surprise to see a team give up significant trade capital in order to acquire Mountcastle.

That doesn’t mean there’s zero room for a deal to be made, of course. Perhaps a team like the Guardians, Rangers, or Cubs could benefit from adding some right-handed pop to their first base/DH mix. Alternatively, it’s not hard to imagine a team like the Nationals, Rockies, or White Sox with space to fill on their roster and low expectations for 2026 seeing Mountcastle as an intriguing bounceback candidate who they could give significant runway to in hopes of helping him rebuild value and flipping him either at this summer’s trade deadline or next offseason. Mayo could surely fit all of those teams as well, of course, though at a much higher asking price and with plenty of additional possible suitors. Teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Pirates, and Marlins could all be feasible longer-term fits for Mayo, particularly if they believe him to be capable of handling third base.

Astros Sign Cavan Biggio To Minor League Deal

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The Astros have signed utility man Cavan Biggio to a minor league deal with an invite to big league Spring Training, per a team announcement.

Biggio, 31 in April, would be entering his eighth season as a big leaguer if he makes the Astros’ roster. A fifth-round pick by the Blue Jays in 2016, he turned in impressive performances for Toronto in his first two years with the club, slashing .240/.368/.430 with a wRC+ of 118 and 4.0 fWAR in 159 games between the 2019 and 2020 seasons. Entering the 2021 season, Biggio looked like a building block of the Blue Jays’ next core. He was the team’s everyday second baseman on paper, slotting in alongside fellow up-and-coming hitters Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (on the infield corners) and Bo Bichette (at shortstop).

Unfortunately, that hot start to Biggio’s career has since proved to be unsustainable. While Guerrero and Bichette both went on to find stardom with the Jays, Biggio fell into a utility role with the team. He hit just .219/.327/.351 (93 wRC+) throughout the remainder of his Jays career before being cut loose by the team in June of 2024. That left Biggio to spend the rest of the year bouncing between teams. He appeared in the majors with the Dodgers and Braves through the second half of the season before catching on with the Royals on a minor league deal last offseason. He’s hit just .184/.298/.286 (70 wRC+) with a 29.0% strikeout rate since leaving Toronto, including a lackluster 59 wRC+ in 37 games with Kansas City last year. He was designated for assignment shortly before the trade deadline and finished the 2025 campaign in the Angels’ minor league system, where he hit just .242/.375/.303 even in the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League.

Difficult as the past two seasons have been for Biggio, there’s still some reason to believe that he can rebound to be a valuable player in a part-time role. Biggio has a career 13.5% walk rate, and it’s never fallen below 10% for a single season. That offers a solid floor of on-base ability that can be difficult to find in bench players; after all, Biggio managed a .296 OBP with the Royals last year despite hitting well below the Mendoza line. He also offers impressive versatility, with lots of experience in all four corners as well as second base. That upside was clearly enough for the Astros to decide to roll the dice on Biggio as a potential bench contributor this year, bringing him into camp and offering him the opportunity to earn a spot on the roster.

Biggio’s odds of actually making the roster are hard to figure out. On the one hand, the Astros haven’t made their desire to get more left-handed a secret, and their recent trade of Jesus Sanchez to the Blue Jays removed one of their few experienced lefty bats from the lineup. On the other hand, Biggio has primarily played the infield throughout his career, and the Astros’ infield mix is already very crowded. Carlos Correa, Jeremy Pena, Jose Altuve, and Christian Walker all figure to play more or less every day around the diamond, which leaves Isaac Paredes (who is also an everyday-caliber player on merit) left to fight for at-bats as it is. Combine that surplus of infield talent with plenty of uncertainty at the infield corners, and Biggio’s best shot at making the roster could be as a part-time corner outfielder, competing with Joey Loperfido and Zach Cole in that role.

Of course, that could change in a hurry if the team’s reported trade talks involving Paredes come to fruition. If more room is created on the bench, Biggio could slot in nicely as a more offensively-oriented complement to Nick Allen on the club’s bench. Brice Matthews and Shay Whitcomb could also compete for bench spots on the infield, in the event that Paredes (or, perhaps, Walker) finds himself traded prior to Opening Day.

Rangers Sign Mark Canha To Minor League Deal

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The Rangers announced this morning that they’ve signed first baseman/outfielder Mark Canha to a minor league deal with an invite to big league Spring Training.

It’s something of a birthday present for Canha, who turns 37 today. The veteran had a rough season in Kansas City last year, slashing just .212/.272/.265 in 46 games with the Royals. He suffered an adductor strain and an elbow injury that sent him to the injured list for two separate stints, and after a trade deadline that saw Kansas City add Mike Yastrzemski, Adam Frazier, and Randal Grichuk to the roster the team had little room to squeeze him back onto the roster when he was healthy enough to return. That left him to be released in mid-August of last year, and he did not catch on with a new club before the end of the year.

Coming off such a difficult 2025 campaign, it’s hardly a shock that Canha had to settle for a minor league deal. Whether last year’s lackluster performance was simply an injury-marred blip for the veteran or a larger signal of age-related decline remains to be seen, but the Rangers are interested enough in finding out to at least bring Canha into camp and see what he has left. That could prove to be a savvy move for the Rangers, given Canha’s long history of success in the majors. The veteran has posted a wRC+ of 101 or better in every season of his career where he’s taken at least 200 plate appearances. From 2018 to 2024, Canha slashed .253/.361/.415 with a wRC+ of 120, a 19.7% strikeout rate and an 11.0% walk rate. While he’s hit 20 homers just once in his career (during the juiced ball era back in 2019), he’s consistently posted high on-base percentages thanks to elite plate discipline.

Canha need not play up to his career numbers in order to be a contributor for the Rangers this year, of course. If he can simply deliver a slash line similar to that which he posted for the Tigers and Giants in 2024, when he hit .242/.344/.346 (101 wRC+), that would be enough to make him a worthy addition to the Rangers’ roster. The team relied heavily on Jake Burger at first base in 2026. He brings considerable power potential but posted a wRC+ of just 89 last season. At DH, Joc Pederson returns for his age-34 campaign after a disastrous 2026 where he hit just .181/.285/.328 with a wRC+ of 76. Even at his best, Pederson carries a substantial platoon split. That could make someone like Canha, who had a 123 wRC+ against lefties in 2024, a useful contributor even if both Pederson and Burger return to form this year.

As good of a fit as Canha would be if he finds his swing again, he’ll have competition for a bench job in Texas. Ezequiel Duran, Cody Freeman, Sam Haggerty, and Michael Helman all offer more positional versatility than Canha can at this point, as he’s entirely restricted to first base, DH, and the corner outfield spots. Justin Foscue is a right-handed hitter already on the 40-man who can handle second base in addition to first, and fellow non-roster invitees like Nick Pratto and Jonah Bride could also be in the mix for a spot with a strong performance in Spring Training.

Jurickson Profar Underwent Sports Hernia Surgery In November

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Braves outfielder Jurickson Profar told reporters (including Mark Bowman of MLB.com) this morning that he underwent surgery for a sports hernia back in November. The procedure required six weeks of recovery time and he enters camp without any restrictions. Per Bowman, Profar indicated he first felt discomfort due to the issue back in September and it flared up again during offseason workouts.

Profar, 33 later this week, is in an uncertain place as he heads into his second season with Atlanta. The switch-hitter’s 2024 campaign with the Padres was nothing short of phenomenal and saw him live up to his pedigree as the sport’s former #1 overall prospect. He earned his first career All-Star appearance and Silver Slugger award that year, slashing .280/.380/.459 with a 139 wRC+. He swatted 24 homers and stole ten bases in 158 games and paired a 15.1% strikeout rate with an 11.4% walk rate. That brilliant season earned Profar a three-year, $42MM contract in Atlanta, but his time with the Braves was derailed almost immediately by a PED suspension. That left him to serve an 80-game suspension that wiped out the first half of his 2025 season.

Once Profar returned to Atlanta, he managed to pick up more or less right where he left off. In 355 plate appearances from his reinstatement in July to the end of the season, Profar slashed .248/.358/.446 with 14 homers and nine steals. He struck out 15.8% of the time while walking at a phenomenal 13.2% clip, giving him an overall wRC+ of 126. Profar’s use of a performance-enhancing substance will surely cast doubt on his numbers for some, and as the veteran gets deeper into his 30s he’ll surely suffer age-related decline. For now, though, it’s easy to pencil the switch-hitter in as a likely above-average contributor to the Braves lineup.

Those contributions figure to come primarily at DH, at least to start the year. Profar doesn’t seem especially enthused about the change. Bowman notes that when asked about primarily playing DH this year, he “gritted his teeth, smirked, and made it clear he’s not excited about the role.” Even so, Profar did say (as noted by Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) that he’s willing to help the team however he can.

To that end, it’s hard to argue that the best version of this Braves roster doesn’t have Profar at DH. He’s long been among the weakest defenders in the sport according to defensive metrics, and with DH Marcell Ozuna having been replaced in the lineup by the defensively solid Mike Yastrzemski it makes plenty of sense to get him off the grass Perhaps that could change at some point in the season, depending on the performance and health of the club’s other outfielders. Another potential x-factor could be Sean Murphy, who is slated to begin the year on the injured list but could factor into the DH mix (alongside fellow catcher Drake Baldwin) upon his return to action.

For now, though, the Braves will need to take every advantage they can get as they look to make up ground against the Phillies and Mets in the NL East. The club is coming off its worst season since Alex Anthopoulos took over baseball operations in 2018, and getting a full season out of a healthy and effective Profar figures to be one way Atlanta will try to get back on track. Of course, they’ll also need better health and productivity from the rest of a lineup that saw key players like Austin Riley, Michael Harris II, and Ozzie Albies take steps backwards at the dish last year, and better health from pitchers like Chris Sale and Reynaldo Lopez will be crucial as well.

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