MILWAUKEE — When the Atlanta Braves brought back outfielder Jorge Soler and reliever Luke Jackson via Monday’s four-player trade with the San Francisco Giants, they knew it could create a crowded situation in the outfield next season and one in the bullpen sooner than that.
But those are good problems to have, said Braves general manager and president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos. He knows how quickly injuries can and often do erase what once seemed like a surplus of talent in one area or another.
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“One thing we’ve seen the last few years is, you’re gonna need more than three (outfielders), and injuries are part of it,” Anthopoulos said. “Every year, we’ve had to acquire bats.”
This season, the Braves lost superstar right fielder Ronald Acuña Jr. to a season-ending knee injury before the All-Star break for the second time in four years and have had center fielder Michael Harris II on the injured list for the past six weeks with a hamstring strain.
Braves win 5-1 at Milwaukee, just their thrird win in 10 games. They'll go for a series win tomorrow in the afternoon finale, and expect to have Jorge Soler batting leadoff.
The #Braves got good Bryce Elder tonight: 6 1/3 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 7 K, 59 strikes in 91 pitches.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) July 31, 2024
The Braves shifted Jarred Kelenic from left field (his best position) to center. In right, they’ve used a mix of Adam Duvall and midseason pickups Ramón Laureano and Eddie Rosario, none of whom has distinguished himself at the position. Next year they’ll return Harris, Kelenic and Acuña, expected to be back from ACL surgery by Opening Day or soon thereafter.
Now add to that mix Soler, who’s signed through 2026 for $13 million each of the next two seasons. Though exclusively a DH this season with the San Francisco Giants, he played at the outfield corners the previous two seasons with the Miami Marlins, and the Braves are set at DH with Marcell Ozuna, who has a $16 million team option for 2025 the Braves seem certain to exercise.
Soler and Jackson, big contributors to the Braves’ 2021 World Series championship team, were due to arrive late Tuesday — their flights were delayed from the West Coast — and be available for Wednesday’s series rubber game against the Milwaukee Brewers, after Atlanta’s 5-1 win.
Braves manager Brian Snitker said there were no questions where Soler would bat in the lineup and play in the field.
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“Leadoff,” he said, smiling. “Heck, yeah. That’s kind of a rough four or five guys to navigate when he’s leading off. We’ll put him there and in right field. Hopefully he does his thing. They say he’s been swinging the bat really well. Luke’s been throwing the ball good. So, I’m excited to get them both in the mix.”
Soler hit just .199 with a .631 OPS through May, but in 48 games since, he has a .280 average, .374 OBP and .496 slugging percentage. After struggling in the middle of the order, particularly with runners on base, Soler, 32, asked to move to the leadoff spot, where he has hit .279 with a .380 OBP and .866 OPS in 28 games.
He could provide a needed boost for the Braves, who rank 21st in the majors with their .693 OPS from leadoff hitters. Even Acuña scuffled atop the order this season before his injury.
“We’ve been struggling to score runs, so hopefully he can come in and ignite this thing, kind of do what he did the last time he was here,” Snitker said of Soler, who had 14 homers, a .358 OBP and .524 slugging percentage in 55 games for the Braves after the 2021 trade, including 11 games in the leadoff spot.
After missing most of the NLCS due to a positive COVID-19 test, Soler hit .333 with a 1.274 OPS in the Braves’ final seven postseason games, including three homers in the six-game World Series to earn series MVP honors.
At 6 feet 4, 235 pounds, his immense size is unusual for a leadoff man, but Soler’s patience at the plate is suited for the position. His 44 walks in 392 plate appearances this season include 11 in his past eight games.
“He always takes his walks,” Snitker said. “I was really impressed with that the first time he was here.”
Next season, Acuńa will be back in right field and Harris in center. Kelenic could be in left field, at least against righties. The Braves have four more years of contractual control for him. They didn’t make a series of moves and take on bad contracts last winter just to get that control and give up on him, despite his uneven performance in his first season with Atlanta.
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Kelenic was hitting just .235 with a .681 OPS before Tuesday, when he hit his 12th home run, a fifth-inning solo shot that pushed the Braves’ lead to 5-0 on a night when erratic starter Bryce Elder was at his best, allowing only five hits and a run in 6 1/3 innings, with one walk with seven strikeouts.
A native of nearby Waukesha, Wis., Kelenic had about 80 family members and friends at the game and called it the most surreal moment of his four-year career, hitting a homer in his first series played at the ballpark where he watched the Brewers as a teen.
The Braves will have four regular, everyday-type outfielders returning next season. But as Anthopoulos noted, Harris has missed time with injuries each of the past two seasons, Acuña might need some rest days like he did after returning from his first ACL surgery in 2022, and the Braves have two lefty hitters, Kelenic and Harris.
Adding a right-handed power hitter was a priority, especially with the Braves offense struggling all season. With Soler, the Braves got a known commodity who was a hit with teammates and coaches during those three memorable months with Atlanta in 2021.
Anthopoulos said Soler was at the top of their list of possible outfield bats as they prepped for this trade deadline.
“We thought we were very close to getting him at the trade deadline in 2022,” Anthopoulos said. “Ultimately, we did the (Raisel) Iglesias deal. We discussed (Soler) in the ’22 offseason with Miami again going into ’23. We did not discuss him this offseason as a free agent (because of) where we were set up and our needs and so on, and the year offensively we were coming off of, that wasn’t an area (of need).
“You look at the season he had last year for Miami (36 homers, .853 OPS), that’s pretty impressive, clearly. … It’s an impact bat in our mind, and there weren’t a lot of them available.”
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With Jackson, 32, the Braves bring back a proven, versatile pitcher they saw blossom into a high-leverage reliever over his five-year run with them through 2021. That season was his finest hour: He had a 1.98 ERA in 71 appearances in 2021, then made 11 postseason appearances, including three scoreless outings in the World Series.
Jackson missed the 2022 season for Tommy John surgery, then landed a two-year, $11.5 million contract with the Giants before the 2023 season, which included a $7 million option for 2025 with a $2 million buyout.
He has a bloated 5.40 ERA in 36 appearances this season, but he has been back to form lately since regaining the feel for his slider. He had a 9.31 ERA in 11 June appearances, but in eight July appearances, it’s a 3.00 ERA with one walk and 13 strikeouts in nine innings.
“When you know the person, you’ve been with them, been teammates, it’s a big deal,” Snitker said of trading for familiar players. “These two guys fit in great here once, and they’ll do it again. And I think they’re both really excited about coming back.”
Anthopoulos clarified another matter that’s been reported erroneously in some outlets: Though the Braves added payroll with the addition of Soler and Jackson and the subtraction of injured reliever Tyler Matzek, who went to San Francisco with third-base prospect Sabin Ceballos, Atlanta’s payroll remains below the $277 million third luxury tax threshold. The Braves don’t intend to surpass it. Doing so would trigger more overage fees and move their first-round pick in next year’s draft back 10 spots.
It was the lone trade at this deadline by the Braves, who didn’t pursue a starting pitcher after averting significant injuries with two of their All-Star starters, Max Fried and Reynaldo López. Fried, on the 15-day IL with forearm neuritis, threw a bullpen session Monday, and López, who left Sunday’s start after three innings with forearm tightness, had a clean MRI that night and already felt normal by Tuesday.
Anthopoulos said López could start as soon as Saturday, and Snitker said they hoped to use either Fried or López to start Saturday. Fried could even start as soon as Friday’s series opener against the Marlins. Snitker, though, indicated that might be ambitious and that no decisions would be made until after Fried throws another bullpen session Wednesday.
(Photo of Adam Duvall, Jarred Kelenic and Eddie Rosario: Michael McLoone / USA Today)
David O'Brien is a senior writer covering the Atlanta Braves for The Athletic. He previously covered the Braves for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and covered the Marlins for eight seasons, including the 1997 World Series championship. He is a two-time winner of the NSMA Georgia Sportswriter of the Year award. Follow David on Twitter @DOBrienATL
