Atlanta Braves fans were relieved to see the front office bring back shortstop Ha-Seong Kim on a one-year, $20 million contract. Unfortunately, that relief was short-lived as Kim is expected to miss the first few months of the season.
The shortstop slipped on ice while back in Korea, and it caused him to need surgery to repair a torn tendon in his right middle finger. So, Atlanta won't have their free agent acquisition on a big league field until May at the earliest.
This leaves the Braves in an extremely tough spot. Luckily, Alex Anthopoulos already did a good job addressing depth this offseason. He traded Nick Allen to the Astros early in the offseason for two-time Gold Glover Mauricio Dubón.
Mauricio Dubon could really bost his own value with Braves after Ha-Seong Kim's injury
Dubón has featured as a utility man most of his career. He hasn't spent many games at shortstop, but he's played all over the infield. However, he had a pretty good split of games between second base (38), shortstop (28), and third base (22) in 2025.
He has so much versatility, it's hard to imagine not being able to use him in that role. He was going to be incredible bench depth for the Braves. However, it seems manager Walt Weiss is confident in Dubón’s ability to handle the shortstop role on an everyday basis.
Atlanta's apparent Opening Day shortstop now finds himself in a prime position to show he is capable of excelling in an everyday role. He is in his final year of arbitration, and if he plays well enough, he could earn himself a nice contract in free agency.
Dubón needs to find a way to be more productive if he wants that opportunity. His batting average has dropped each season since 2023. However, his production in 2023 was excellent. He sported a .278/.309/.411 slash line with 130 hits, including 10 homers, 26 doubles, 46 RBI, and a 97 wRC+.
He doesn't have a lot of pop at the plate, but rarely strikes out. Last season, he continued to excel with elite strikeout (10.6%) and whiff (15.8%) percentages. His walk rate wasn't very good at 6.0, but it was higher than it had been in previous seasons.
Defensively, Dubón is going to be absolutely incredible. He had an outrageous OAA at 20 last season, with a 90.4 rating with his arm strength. There are a lot of ways he's similar to Nick Allen, but he has more potential at the plate. It stinks that the Braves have to go this route, but hopefully, Dubón is motivated enough to prove them right in being confident in him being the everyday shortstop.