4 Players (and 1 Manager) Who Will Have Their Number Retired by the Atlanta Braves
After retiring Andruw Jones's number, whose number will the Atlanta Braves retire next?
The Atlanta Braves just retired their 11th number after hanging up Andruw Jones's #25 for good on Saturday evening. Six of those numbers have been retired in the last 15 years.
But after retiring Andruw Jones's number, it might be a while before the next Atlanta Brave is honored. Here are the four players (and one manager) who will get the highest honor the Braves can give once their careers are over.
The 2 players with a 10%-50% chance to get their number retired by the Braves
Ozzie Albies - #1
It's hard to imagine Ozzie Albies in another uniform. After signing a seven-year, $35 million extension with two option years in 2019, the Braves 2B will likely spend at least 11 seasons with Atlanta.
In his seven seasons to date with the club, Albies has been excellent. He's been worth 18.3 fWAR (roughly 3.2 fWAR per season if you exclude 2017 and 2020) and has a 108 career wRC+ (.270/.322/.474).
By fWAR, he's already the third-best 2B in franchise history, and the two players ahead of him (Bobby Lowe and Ross Barnes) were both dead before the team even moved to Milwaukee.
At the same time, the Braves have been resistant to retiring non-Hall-of-Famers, with Andruw joining Dale Murphy as the players to get their number retired by the team who aren't in Cooperstown.
Still, Albies has become one of the faces of the current franchise. He's gone from being one of the young players on the 2018 team to being one of the leaders on the 2023 team.
If #1 gets retired, it's because Albies spends his entire career with the team and doesn't have a serious decline in his 30s. If Albies can ride 3 fWAR seasons for the next eight years, then he could cement himself into Braves history.
Austin Riley - #27
After getting the largest contract in Atlanta Braves history, Austin Riley is here for the long term. When the Braves 3B's contract expires, he will have spent at least 15 years with the Braves.
Since his breakout season in 2021, Riley has been worth 14.5 fWAR (roughly 5 fWAR per season). If he continues this for the next decade, he could find himself in the Hall of Fame.
However, expecting a decade's worth of 5+ fWAR seasons would be foolish. Riley could as easily become Kris Bryant in his 30s as he could become Jim Thome.
If Austin can continue his level of production for the next several years, he very easily could be the last Brave to ever wear #27.
1 Manager
Brian Snitker went from being the interim manager, the stopgap before the Braves hired a "real manager," to becoming that real manager and leading a team to the championship. Since taking over for the team in 2016, Snitker has won five division titles (soon-to-be six!), a Manager of the Year award, and, of course, the 2021 World Series.
Snitker, whose job was in jeopardy in 2017 until Nick Markakis threatened to fight John Hart, will likely be the Braves manager for at least 10 seasons. Currently, only Bobby Cox and Frank Selee have more wins, and both managers are in the Hall of Fame.
Snitker likely won't have time to reach Cooperstown, but he still has plenty of time to win more championships. If the Braves skipper can bring home one or two more World Series victories, it would be hard to imagine the Braves not retiring #43.
The 2 players with a 50%-100% chance
Ronald Acuña Jr. - #13
According to Baseball-Reference, Ronald Acuña Jr. has been most similar to Frank Robinson through his age 25 season. Robinson, if you didn't know, is one of the greatest players in MLB history.
Even before this season, where he's fighting for the NL MVP and creating records, Acuña had an impressive resumé: a Rookie of the Year award, three All-Stars, two Silver Sluggers, and a World Series ring. The RF has averaged 4.25 fWAR per season, despite the shortened 2020 season and missing half of the 2021 season.
If he can average this for the next five seasons after this season, he will have put up 46.8 fWAR, which would place him fifth all-time in the Braves franchise production, behind Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Chipper Jones, and Andruw Jones.
Of course, as we've seen this season, he's capable of much more than a 4 WAR season. It would not be surprising if Acuña has a few more 6 and 7 WAR seasons.
Freddie Freeman - #5
I never said these were current Braves. As much as I like to pretend this man isn't in a Dodgers uniform who will likely finish third-place in this year's MVP race, I have to acknowledge Freddie Freeman will likely never put on a Braves uniform in another game.
At the same time, Freddie's tenure as a Brave was nothing short of outstanding. In his 12 seasons with Atlanta, Freeman appeared in five All-Star Games, won three Silver Sluggers, and the 2020 MVP.
Freeman was the sole continuous member from the 2013 division-winning team to the 2018 team that kicked off the streak of the soon-to-be six straight division titles.
His 43.3 fWAR puts him at seventh in franchise history, right behind Brian McCann. McCann's number will likely never be retired, but he never quite had the face of the franchise reputation that Freeman did.
Braves fans will have to deal with four more years of watching Freeman in a Dodgers uniform but we've likely already seen the last player wear #5 for the Braves.