Shortly after the Atlanta Braves made the official announcement of their signing of OF Jurickson Profar to a three-year, $42 million contract in free agency, Braves President of Baseball Operations and GM Alex Anthopoulos spoke to the media after getting the deal over the finish line.
Right away, AA appeared to be pretty confident and excited to bring Profar into the fold. Anthopoulos claimed that Profar was “the second-best bat on the free agency market” this offseason behind Juan Soto and while he did make sure to state that he wasn’t an elite free agency option, he still made sure to stress that the Braves are believers in what Profar can deliver.
“Getting a switch-hitting bat with on-base skills and contact skills […] We really buy into the significant swing changes he made from ‘23 to ‘24,” said Anthopoulos when asked about signing Profar. “His exit velocity is up quite a bit. I’ve seen guys like Justin Turner, José Bautista, Josh Donaldson make some changes with their swing and incorporate more of their lower half and while by no means am I saying [Profar]’s the same player [as those aforementioned players], this guy has had all the ingredients. Tapping into power was the one piece that was going to elevate his bat. We believe that what he did last year is who he is going forward.”
Anthopoulos also seemed pretty satisfied about the fact that he was able to acquire an outfielder in general. “One thing that we’ve needed since ‘21 has been outfielders. We were always short,” is how AA put it when asked about the addition of Profar to the roster. “Ronald Acuña Jr. is going to miss the start of the year and we don’t have an ETA on him yet. As we get closer, we’ll have that and he’s doing well. We’ve had injuries [in the outfield] for the past two seasons. Michael Harris II has had injuries the last two seasons.”
AA also made it clear that Jarred Kelenic is going to have to earn his spot on the roster once camp gets going in February. “Jarred Kelenic’s been a guy who can back up in center field for us. Jarred’s still going to have to come in here and compete for a job,” stated AA. “I don’t think we’ve been through a season with just three outfielders. There’s always been a need. Outfield depth has been a concern for us. Having too many good players would be a wonderful problem to have. We’re going to try to protect ourselves over six months and hopefully beyond into the playoffs.”
AA is very confident about Profar fitting the 2025 Braves squad like a glove. “We think he’ll be a great fit for us. We’re excited for the fit in our lineup and our team,” said Anthopoulos. We’re going to have guys who have rough patches and slumps, guys who get hurt. Having that depth in the lineup, we went into last season thinking guys like Orlando Arcia would hit around 8-9, you’re now in a spot where if everybody’s healthy, you’re looking at Orlando in the 9-hole and 1-through-8 is a lot of really established guys who have a chance to be really strong. We had a really prolific offense in ‘23 […] and I think Profar will be a perfect compliment and fit to our team.”
AA was also very pleased with the fact that Jurickson Profar has managed to stay healthy over recent seasons — something that a lot of Braves players know a lot about (2024 notwithstanding). “The other piece to it is that he’s a durable player,” said Anthopoulous. “He played 158 games last year. That’s a lot of games. That speaks to make-up, the ability to grind. Then you factor in the fact that he played during the winter, then into the season, then into the Postseason. We look at the “Games Played” column as well and that plays into the decision-making. It made a whole lot of sense for us.”
AA acknowledged that while Profar had a fantastic season in 2024, he’s certainly had his fair share of peaks and valleys over the course of his career. “This was over a 4-WAR player last year,” Anthopoulos pointed out. “The optimist would be us in saying “Look, we think he’s found something. We believe in his swing changes. We think this is who he can be going forward.” The ones on the other side would say “Well, 2024 was just one year.” That’s the risk you take with these things. A lot of times, we’re upside players. We’re going to look at things sometimes where we feel philosophically that what makes sense for us is to take on a little bit more risk and tap into a little bit more upside that allows us to build the best 26-man roster.”
AA went onto add that the Braves “have a lot of power, there’s no doubt about that. We love that he can bat left-handed. We love that there’s no platoon scenario. Plus he’s durable.” Anthopoulos also noted that he’s already been in contact with Brian Snitker and tried to pick his brain a bit when it came to how he figures the manager will deploy his new outfielder. “I spoke to Snit today about where he thought he’d hit him. I’m just curious, especially with Ronald out at the beginning but we’ll see,” said AA. “Profar gives you a lot of options because he walks, he’s got some power, he makes contact whether he’s batting left or right and he’s durable. He just really changes the complexion of our lineup across the board.”
“His skillset is rare,” said AA as he continued to explain the thought process behind signing Profar to a deal for the next three seasons. “He’s always had the on-base and contact but the power hadn’t come in. Then you really start looking at the swing changes and then you look at how his Exit Velocity spiked, it correlates. It makes sense. Then you talk to him about it and you have him walk you through it and it adds up.”
AA went on to once again bring up past experiences of signing players coming off of big contract seasons. “I remember when I was in Toronto and José Bautista had one big year and we gave him (what was at the time) a monster contract. We bought into some of the swing changes he made. Josh Donaldson, it was the same thing. We had [Profar] based off of last year as the second-best free agent bat next to Juan Soto. I’m not saying he’s that but that’s how good he was. When you look at his career with his decision-making, the on-base, the contact, that’s always been a part of his game. He just didn’t hit the ball very hard. When you see some of the changes he made, we believe that he’s tapped into some power and that’s here to stay.”
As far as how the outfield will look once Opening Day rolls around, Alex Anthopoulos had a pretty good idea of how he figures things will look once the season gets going. “Jurickson will be playing left, Harris will be playing center and we’ll have a competition for right field,” said AA. When it comes to Kelenic in particular, AA said that “I told Jarred Kelenic that we’re going to get him a lot of reps in right field with Ronald out. He’s got the range and the arm strength to play all three outfield positions. Guys like Bryan De La Cruz will come in and compete. We’ll see if some other guys come in and compete. Jarred will have every opportunity to be that guy with his defense and his left-handed bat. He’ll have to earn it and Snit will make those calls.”
As you can imagine, AA made sure to mention that the Braves aren’t necessarily done with doing business here in the offseason. “We’re just going to look for opportunities. If the right opportunity presents itself, we’ll do it. We don’t want to force deals. Profar at this price made sense for us,” said Anthopoulos. “There’s plenty of players we like via trade and free agency but you’re just looking for the right fit. It won’t surprise me if we’re still talking to people into spring training. We’re almost into the month of February. If something comes up that makes sense, we’ll do it.”
With all of that being said, AA did mention that he believes the outfield is in a good place as they head into the upcoming season. “I think Kelenic and Harris are pluses. I think Profar is solid in left field. We think we’ve got Gold Glove-caliber guys with Kelenic and Harris. Jarred can certainly play Gold Glove-right field. He’s got as good of an arm as you’ll ever find and he’s got speed and range. I think Mike will eventually win a Gold Glove.” The GM of the Braves put it very bluntly by simply summing up his feelings on the outfield by stating that “I feel good about the outfield.” If the 2024 version of Profar is indeed the one that’s here to stay, then this outfield definitely has a very high ceiling once Acuña returns to full-time action and AA’s right to feel confident in that regard.
