While the Atlanta Braves employ some of the best in baseball, they aren't immune from underperformance and struggles. The 2024 season taught fans that lesson as the team suffered from injuries from the start. This caused the team to put a lot more pressure on themselves and that led to some miserable performances. Hopefully, the Braves do not suffer that same fate in 2025 but baseball is a fickle game and someone is bound to struggle. Who will that be this season?
These Braves are the most likely to underperform in 2025
Nick: Chris Sale - When Chris Sale is able to stay on the field he is a great top-of-the-rotation arm. However, the 2024 season is the first time we’ve seen this happen in years. It was an outlier for the veteran pitcher in every way. Sale taking a slight step back in production and dealing with injuries that have hampered his career wouldn’t be a surprise whatsoever.
Mitchell - Marcell Ozuna or Jurickson Profar. Ozuna had a weird slump towards the end of the season where his power was completely absent. Profar bested his previous OPS+ career high by 20 points. I could see either of them seeing 20-point drops in OPS+, but I still think they’ll be somewhat productive.
Chase: Ronald Acuña Jr. - Sadly, I feel like 2025 will be much like the 2022 season for Ronald as he works his way back from major knee surgery again. I don’t think he’s going to be bad by any means, but current Zips projections have him for a 154 wRC+ and 5.1 fWAR. I think he will miss both of those marks in 2025. However, if any player can return from a second knee surgery and immediately produce a superstar-level season, it’s our glorious king Ronald Acuña Jr.
Ronald Acuña Jr. is back mashing baseballs 😳
— MLB (@MLB) January 14, 2025
🎥: academiaizturis / IG pic.twitter.com/plw8ertJEk
Eric: Matt Olson - I like Olson a lot and think he will probably be fine, but his profile is a scary one. He just goes through stretches where he can’t make contact and his at-bats look futile. When he is on, he absolutely feasts. However, it wouldn’t be out of character whatsoever if he struggles with his hit tool again as we have actually seen it happen more than once.
Steven: Eric is right to point out Matt Olson but I did a deep dive on his offensive performance and it seems he performs better in odd-numbered seasons. So, 2025 could be a return to form. I believe Reynaldo Lopez is going to come back down to earth this season. He was incredible last season but he did have some durability issues. It feels like he is primed for some regression in 2025.
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