Through the first couple months of the season, it sure felt like the Atlanta Braves and their fans were just hoping that the team would survive until Jurickson Profar had served his suspension. He put the Braves in a terrible spot and it is fair to wonder if his career year in 2024 was aided by PEDs, but few argued that the Braves' lineup wouldn't be better with Profar in it especially given how bad Alex Verdugo, Jarred Kelenic, and Eli White were in his absence.
When Profar homered in his first game back from his PED suspension, it felt like Atlanta finally could get going again with him contributing. Instead, what has come in the games since then has been uneven performances and more of the same offensive ineptitude that has colored the Braves season in the first half.
Jurickson Profar hasn't been anywhere near enough to get the Braves trending upward
In fairness to Profar, it would have taken a herculean effort from him to actually make a difference given how bad this team is playing right now. Ronald Acuña Jr. has cooled down since his hot start, Matt Olson has been great, and Sean Murphy is showing signs of life, but the rest of the lineup has been below average to terrible for a while now.
However, one would have hoped that Profar would be bringing more to the table than he has. While Profar does have a pair of homers in the five games since his return which is great, he is also has no extra base hits beyond the two dingers and has yet to draw a walk while showing a good bit amount of swing and miss. More importantly, the Braves are 1-4 since Profar's return which, at the end of the day, is the only number that really matters.
Expecting more than that from a guy that just served an 80 game suspension may be unfair, but the reality is that the Braves needed more than that out of him. With their season in a tailspin, Atlanta needed something big to go in their favor. Instead, they got a pretty decent hitter which, while helpful, is going to come close to turn their season around at this point.