Top 7 highest earners on the Atlanta Braves in 2024
We take a look at seven Atlanta Braves set to make the most money in 2024.
The Atlanta Braves have one of the best (if not the best) front offices in all of baseball. Alex Anthopoulos' refusal to overpay or over-value players, lock in young talent via extensions, make savvy trades, or target short-term value contracts with veteran free agents has given the Braves one of the deepest rosters ever assembled.
So, which Atlanta Braves will have the highest salaries in 2024? Here are the top seven... I was going to do a top 5 but we have a three-way tie for the number seven spot.
Fun Fact: These seven players are the only Braves that will earn more than $9 million in 2024.
Highest Paid Atlanta Braves Players in 2024: T-5, Chris Sale - $16 million
All offseason Atlanta Braves fans have been hoping for a big-named starting pitcher to be added. They got it in seven-time All-Star Chris Sale. After the trade was completed, the Braves announced they had agreed to an extension with Sale. This extension benefited Sale in a few ways.
RELATED: 3 reasons the Atlanta Braves extended Chris Sale
It got rid of $10 million in deferred money so he could get paid now. It gave him $22 million guaranteed in 2025 as opposed to a club option that could have been declined. Considering Sale had a no-trade clause built into his contract with Boston, he probably stipulated some sort of an extension in exchange for waiving the no-trade.
Sale will earn $16 million in 2024. What's really cool about it is the Red Sox sent $17 million in cash considerations along with Sale in exchange for Vaughn Grissom. No matter which team is footing the bill, the $16 million tied Chris Sale for the fifth-highest salary on the Atlanta Braves in 2024.
Highest Paid Atlanta Braves Players in 2024: T-5, Raisel Iglesias - $16 million
Raisel Iglesias will also earn $16 million in 2024 as well. It's crazy how that works. Iglesias' role is critical to success but it always intrigues me to see how much more relievers can often earn per inning than some starting pitchers. For example, the aforementioned Chris Sale will earn the same paycheck as Iglesias in 2024 but if Sale pitches twice as many innings in 2024, we would probably be disappointed.
Iglesias is entering year three of a four-year, $58 million contract that was initially signed with the Los Angeles Angels. The Atlanta Braves have their closer locked in for the next two seasons at $16 million. Since 2020, Iglesias has been consistently great. Over 212 games he has a stellar 2.61 ERA with 2.0 walks per nine innings and 12.0 strikeouts per nine! He has 92 saves in that time and even got some Cy Young attention in 2021, finishing 11th in voting.
He may not get the recognition he deserves with Atlanta. We have gotten so accustomed to great performances that sometimes they can get overlooked. Since joining the Atlanta Braves, Iglesias has a 1.98 ERA over 82 innings with 34 saves. He earned 33 of those saves last season and enters 2024 locked in as the Braves closer.
Highest Paid Atlanta Braves Players in 2024: T-5, Marcell Ozuna - $16 million
Marcell Ozuna's time with the Atlanta Braves began as one of those one-year prove-it deals in 2020. He finished sixth in MVP voting and earned a Silver Slugger. The following season, he signed a four-year deal worth $65 million with Atlanta.
2024 is the final guaranteed year of his contract, although he does have a club option in 2025. Ozuna is entering his age 33 season in 2024 and is coming down off of a tremendous 2023. Many people like to say he's been inconsistent, but he had a lot of injuries/external factors that would have affected any of us at our jobs. When he's had his head clear and been healthy, he's been an incredible baseball player.
As Ozuna proved last season, when he's on his game he provides a real value even though he's tied for the fifth-highest salary on the team. The veteran is worth the money when he clobbers 40 homers and drives in 100 runs!
Highest Paid Atlanta Braves Players in 2024: #4 Ronald Acuna Jr. - $17 million
Ronal Acuna Jr. reached the maximum annual payout of his contract last season. In 2023, he began earning $17 million per year and he will earn as much for the next three seasons, at least. See the two-year club option built into the contract at $17 million. It was a truly brilliant contract for the team.
It would have been hard for Acuna to turn down all of that guaranteed money after playing just half of a season. He had a LONG way to go to get to the open market. When someone dangles this kind of money in front of you, it's hard to pass it up! It eliminates the risk of injury or failure. The result: The Braves have one of the best players in the game's history for a little more than what they pay their closer.
Looking around the league at the best players reveals that Acuna earns about half of what he would on the open market. Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, Jacob deGrom, and other top players are earning around $40 million per year.
So the good news goes both ways. The Brave have Acuna locked down through 2028. In 2029, he will enter free agency at the relatively young age of 31. At that point, someone else will pay him too much money based on all the things he did with the Braves and not so much what he will do for that club throughout the new contract.
Highest Paid Atlanta Braves Players in 2024: #3 Charlie Morton - $20 million
Despite being the third-highest-paid player on the Atlanta Braves, Charlie Morton still presents a heck of a value for a pitcher with his resume and track record. Take a look at Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. Those two are in the same age group as Morton and have all been among the best in the game over the past few years. Morton makes half of what they make.
You could argue that Charlie Morton was the best pitcher in the rotation last season. He had the best ERA of any starting pitcher with over 100 innings pitched.
Despite advancing in years, Morton has maintained a high strikeout rate, posting a 10.1 SO9 rate in 2023. Since joining the Braves in 2021, Morton's 10.43 strikeouts per nine innings is the fifth-most in all of baseball among qualified pitchers. During that time he has gone 37-24 with a 3.77 ERA and has the seventh most total strikeouts with 604 Ks in 521 innings pitched. Let us not forget his performance in the World Series with a broken leg.
Highest Paid Atlanta Braves Players in 2024: #2 Austin Riley- $21 million
it's almost hard to recall the early struggles Austin Riley faced at this point. He came out of the gates banging in 2019 but then his propensity to swing and miss at breaking balls was exploited to the worst levels. In 2020, we had conversations about whether Johan Camargo was the better option over Riley.
Since then, Riley has earned two Silver Sluggers, two All-MLB teams, finished at least seventh in MVP voting three years running, and earned two All-Star selections. There's no debating it, he's been one of the best hitters in baseball since 2021. He's also played at least 159 games in each of the past three seasons.
Over the past three years, only five hitters have more homers than Riley. During that time, he ranks 12th in RBI with 297. That's more than Paul Goldschmidt, Shohei Ohtani, and Freddie Freeman have in that same time. His .525 slugging percentage is 10th best over the past three seasons and he has a .287 average to complement it.
On top of the incredible offensive prowess, Riley has worked hard with the glove to make it one of the best. Of his 19 career defensive runs saved, 15 have come in the past two years. Don't overlook Austin Riley as a legitimate MVP candidate in 2024. He enters the season as the second-highest-paid player on the roster.
Highest Paid Atlanta Braves Players in 2024: #1 Matt Olson - $22 million
Matt Olson has entrenched himself as an all-time Atlanta Brave after two seasons. Last year he set franchise records in home runs (54) and runs batted in (139). The Matt Olson acquisition helped soften the blow of saying goodbye to Freddie Freeman. Entering his age-30 season, Olson could still have his best years ahead of him, which is saying a lot!
The trade for Olson was announced before Freddie Freeman's deal with the Dodgers in the offseason before 2022. For Braves fans, it meant it was time to say goodbye to Freddie, so it was bittersweet. Then, Atlanta announced they had also signed Matt Olson to an extension. The first base position was now locked up through 2029 with a club option for 2030.
2024 will be the first of six consecutive seasons in which he will earn $22 million per season. Outside of the franchise records he set last year, Olson finished fourth in MVP voting, earned an All-Star selection, and a Silver Slugger Award. Add him to the list of legitimate preseason MVP candidates on the Atlanta Braves. Don't forget, the two-time Glove Glove Award winner has 49 career defensive runs saved over eight major league seasons.
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