MLB
The Wrong Impact
By: Michael Spiers
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Here we go again.
For the second straight March, the Atlanta Braves are opening camp with a Jurickson Profar suspension hanging over the franchise.
Only this time it is not 80 games. It is 162. A full season. Gone.
And at this point, it is fair to ask a simple question: what exactly did the Braves buy?
When Atlanta signed Profar to a three year, 42 million dollar deal after his career year in San Diego, it felt like a savvy move.
He had just hit .280 with 24 home runs, 85 runs batted in, an All Star nod and a Silver Slugger. The Braves needed another professional bat to lengthen the lineup behind Ronald Acuna Jr., Matt Olson and Austin Riley.
Profar looked like a veteran piece who had finally figured it out. Instead, what Atlanta has received is chaos.
Last season, four games in, Profar was suspended 80 games for testing positive for human chorionic gonadotropin. He returned midseason, hit .245 with 14 home runs, and the Braves tried to turn the page.
They publicly expressed disappointment but support. They hoped he would learn from it. Now this.
A second positive test. A full year ban. Fifteen million dollars forfeited. Ineligible for the postseason. Ineligible for the World Baseball Classic. And perhaps most damaging, ineligible for trust.
Major League Baseball increased penalties for repeat offenders in 2014. Since then, only six players have received a 162 game suspension, and now Profar joins that list. That is not company any organization wants to keep.
And this is not just about numbers on a stat sheet. This is about credibility in the clubhouse.
Whit Merrifield, who finished his career in Atlanta just months ago, posted a pointed question on social media: what other profession can you get caught cheating to gain an unfair advantage on your peers and still keep your job?
That sentiment is likely not isolated. I believe ballplayers understand slumps. They understand injuries. They understand bad luck. What they do not tolerate easily is a teammate cutting corners and putting the team in jeopardy. Especially twice.
From a purely baseball perspective, the Braves can try to spin this as manageable. They have some depth.
Sean Murphy’s return could allow Drake Baldwin to spend more time as a hitter. The lineup still features Acuna, Olson, Riley, Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II. Mike Yastrzemski was brought in to help.
But that misses the larger point. The Braves are not simply replacing a designated hitter. They are replacing stability.
This franchise entered the offseason trying to rebound from a 76 and 86 win season.
Injuries to Spencer Schwellenbach and Hurston Waldrep have already thinned the pitching depth. Questions linger around Spencer Strider’s velocity. And now, before Opening Day, another major storyline overshadows everything.
Profar was supposed to be a bounce back story. Instead, he is a cautionary tale.
It is also fair to wonder about the 2024 breakout that earned him the contract in the first place. Fair or not, suspicion will follow. That is the cost of multiple violations.
Financially, the Braves save the 15 million dollars he forfeits this season. But they cannot recoup the lost momentum, the distraction, or the erosion of trust.
And practically speaking, his time in Atlanta feels finished. Even if an appeal reduces the penalty, how does the organization sell that return to its fan base? How does the clubhouse welcome it?
The Braves have built a culture over the past decade around professionalism and internal development. This situation cuts directly against that identity.
Championship windows do not stay open forever. They require talent, health and trust. Right now, Atlanta is battling injuries, facing roster uncertainty, and dealing with a self-inflicted wound that never needed to happen.
Jurickson Profar was supposed to help extend the Braves’ contention window.
Instead, twice now, he has helped shrink it.
BravesVision
By: Michael Spiers
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For years Braves fans have lived in a state of television uncertainty.
Regional sports network disputes. Blackouts. Cable providers dropping channels days before Opening Day. Streaming confusion layered on top of it all.
Watching the team was sometimes harder than watching the bullpen hold a one run lead in September.
So, when the Atlanta Braves announced the launch of BravesVision, a team owned and operated broadcast platform that will serve as the official local television home beginning in 2026, it felt like something significant. It felt like control was coming home.
On the surface BravesVision checks nearly every box fans have been asking for.
The organization will oversee production, sales, marketing, and distribution of more than 140 regular season games. In-market fans will have access without local blackouts through Braves.TV.
Cable, satellite, and streaming providers will be able to carry the network through direct agreements with the club.
A select number of games will even be available over the air at no cost across the Southeast through Gray Media stations. That last point matters.
Free television still has value. It keeps the sport accessible to casual viewers, families, and young fans who may not be ready to navigate subscription platforms. The Braves appear to understand that.
There is also something emotionally resonant about this move. Generations of Braves fans just like me grew up watching games on a network closely tied to the club. The broadcast was not just distribution. It was identity.
By bringing television operations in house, the Braves are reclaiming that narrative space. They control how the team is presented, how stories are told, and how the brand evolves across digital platforms. In a fragmented media landscape, that kind of control is powerful.
But optimism has to meet reality at the price point. The Braves have not yet announced subscription cost.
Industry comparisons suggest a likely range around twenty dollars per month or somewhere between one hundred and one hundred fifty dollars for a full season package.
That may not sound unreasonable to diehard fans who watch nearly every game. Over six months of baseball, that cost can feel justified.
The challenge lies with everyone else. Modern sports fans already juggle multiple subscriptions. Cable or streaming television packages. National MLB streaming services. ESPN and other sports platforms.
Adding another recurring fee risks pushing casual viewers away rather than drawing them in. Convenience loses its shine if it arrives with another invoice.
Distribution will also be critical. If BravesVision is widely available through major providers without forcing fans into expensive add on tiers, it will feel seamless.
If it becomes another premium channel that requires an upgrade, frustration will follow quickly.
There is also a broader business question. The collapse of several regional sports networks over the past few years has reduced guaranteed television revenue for many clubs.
Some teams that transitioned to league produced broadcasts have reportedly seen revenue cut nearly in half compared to prior deals.
The Braves are choosing a different path by managing the operation themselves. That decision carries both risk and opportunity. Success will depend not just on subscriptions but on advertising, sponsorship, and overall audience reach.
In the end, BravesVision represents something admirable. It is a proactive solution rather than a reactive one. It removes blackout barriers. It simplifies access. It restores storytelling control to the organization.
Whether it is worth the price will come down to execution. If the Braves deliver broad access at a reasonable cost, this could become a model for other franchises navigating the post cable sports world.
If pricing creeps too high or distribution becomes fragmented, it may feel like trading one complicated system for another. For now, fans have reason to be cautiously optimistic. The intent is strong. The structure is promising.
The next step is making sure BravesVision serves not just the organization’s bottom line but the families across Braves Country who simply want to turn on a game and watch.
The New Skipper?
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Braves began a process that hasn’t happened in 15 years…a search for a new manager. The organization recently announced that Braves Manager Brian Snitker will be changing roles by coming out of the dugout and moving into an advisory role in the front office beginning in 2026.
The Braves-lifer took over the Braves managerial job in the interim in 2016 after Fredi Gonzalez was fired, then named full-time head man for the 2017 season and moves to the advisory role next year which will be the 50th season in the Braves organization.
The Braves haven’t had to do a full managerial search since 2010 when the club hired Fredi Gonzalez to lead the chop. Now the question swirling around the ATL is “who comes next?”
The manager’s job is vastly different than what even Snit was hired to do in 2016 that also comes along with a demand for alignment from Derek Schiller (Braves Owner), Alex Anthopolous (GM) and through the organization.
The other piece that I pray that is still part of the process (but honestly am skeptical if it is) is finding someone that aligns with the “Braves Way” that was coined by legendary manager Bobby Cox and GM John Schuerholz that held the Braves organization to a higher standard than most teams.
There are a couple of different camps on potential replacements. Some in Braves Country would love to see a more “old school” true baseball man to lead the organization, and if they have a tie to the organization even better.
Names like Bruce Bochy, who is a legendary manager for the Giants and recently parted ways with the Rangers is back on the market.
Bob Melvin (who took over in San Francisco for Bochy) was let go by the Giants just days before the Snitker announcement came down the pipe.
Walt Weiss is also one that has come up consistently when the rumors were swirling over the past few years. Weiss was Snitker’s bench coach that has managerial experience with the Rockies and a former Braves infielder.
Finally, John Gibbons has been looking for a new job and has connections to the front office after being hired by Alex Anthopolous for the Blue Jays when “AA” was the top baseball executive north of the border.
Some other folks are looking for a “young buck” that is all into the analytics and the “new age baseball” minds. One of the top names in this category was Skip Schumaker, who was hired on Friday to lead the Texas Rangers and take over for Bruce Bochy in the dugout in Arlington.
There are dozens of former player names that have come up in conversation, and realistically we could list them all, but in reality, they are all the same. Baseball is more than a laptop, but we’ll save that soapbox for another day.
To me, while I’m a baseball purist and an “old school” baseball thinker and would be far more on that side if I had to choose, I believe that there are a couple of happy mediums.
From the time the word came out that there was a vacancy in the Braves dugout, the first name that came to my mind was Mark DeRosa.
DeRosa has been an analyst on MLB Network after his long playing career, and while he doesn’t have full-time managerial experience at the MLB Level, he has been a wildly successful coach and manager with USA Baseball including the manager for the last two World Baseball Classic teams that represented the American team.
Someone like DeRosa that leans more to the old school mindset while also being able to use the data and analytics to support the baseball minds.
Names like DeRosa, Craig Albernaz, Michael Young fit this role, and would be where my searching mind goes first, but we will see where the combination of Schiller, Anthopolous and the rest of the front office go to.
Brunswick To The Bigs
By: Cameron Miller
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
After a stellar season at Georgia Tech, Former Brunswick High Pirate Kyle Lodise got to hear his name called up on the big stage.
Not only was this a monumental day for Kyle, but also the entire Lodise family. Kyle’s cousin Alex Lodise, who was also a standout in the ACC as a shortstop for the Florida State Seminoles, was selected just 16 picks before Kyle. The Atlanta Braves used their 60th overall pick to select Alex in the second round.
Kyle was drafted by the Chicago White Sox with the first pick of the third round (76th overall).
While Kyle heads to the White Sox organization and Alex Lodise is off to the Braves system, they aren’t the only members of the Lodise Family with eyes on the Majors.
Kyle’s younger brother, Jordan, just graduated from Brunswick High School as well and is heading to the University of Central Florida to continue the family’s baseball tradition.
For Kyle, the journey to this point was anything but typical. After finishing up an excellent 4-year stretch with the Brunswick High Pirates, he started off his college career at Division II Augusta University.
He then transferred to Georgia Tech for his junior season and quickly made his presence known in the powerhouse ACC.
In his one and only season with the Yellow Jackets, Lodise started all 55 games at shortstop and posted an eye-catching slash line of .329/.429/.667. He launched 16 home runs, was walked 34 times, and also tallied 39 extra-base hits, which was the second-most in the conference behind Drew Burress.
His breakout campaign with the Yellow Jackets didn’t go unnoticed. Lodise earned Second Team All-ACC honors and was named a semifinalist for the Brooks Wallace Award, which is an award given out each season to the top shortstop in college baseball.
The White Sox have a pretty average middle infield but what they do seem to lack there is depth. So, with Lodise still sitting there at pick 76 their front office must’ve seen a strong fit and a lot of potential as they looked to add to that middle infield depth throughout this year’s draft.
When asked about Lodise, White Sox Director of Amateur Scouting Mike Shirly said, “He nailed the interview at the combine; talk about professional, well spoken, intelligent, instinctual.”
Lodise has all the tools to be successful in the majors, but the one spot I would say he made his biggest impact was at the plate. According to D1 Baseball, he posted an impressive .765 slugging percentage against fastballs.
Even though evaluators have said that a bulk of his home run production came against pitches below 92 mph, Lodise is the kind of hard working player who knows there is always room for improvement, especially when it comes to facing high velocity pitches.
On the defensive side, some of the scouts questioned if his arm strength will hold up long term at shortstop, but with his quick reactions and consistent hands throughout the season it makes him a great option either way.
Lodise is also a very valuable asset on the bases, this season with the Yellow Jackets he was a perfect 13-for-13 in stolen base attempts.
In his standout 2025 season he provided us with many highlight reel moments. The one that stands out the most to me was the game against Notre Dame in which he had three home runs, and a triple.
Lodise was the only Yellow Jacket to accomplish that this year. Lodise also led the team in triples (3), ranked second in runs scored (68), doubles (20), home runs (16), and walks (34), and placed third in RBIs (61), solidifying his status as one of the ACC’s most productive hitters.
From Brunswick to the big leagues, Kyle Lodise’s journey proves that hard work, versatility, and belief in one’s talent can turn even the longest odds into a shot at the show.
What’s Not The Problem?
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
As we turn the calendar into July, the Braves have been sitting on the line teetering around 10-15 games back in the NL East race for the past few weeks which lead to the question…What’s the problem with the Braves?
While all wanna-be managers on social media know exactly how to solve the issues overnight, I think a bigger question may be “what’s not the problem?”
When I ask, “What’s not the problem?” I fully realize that there are many problems that the Braves are facing through 2025 (and stem from issues in the past couple of years), but there are remedies that Braves Country are calling for that aren’t the answer.
The biggest flawed remedy that many are shouting from the tops of the mountains is Michael Harris II and the lack of production at the plate.
While that’s true, his .215 average is a career low, but “Money Mike” is not the issue. In my eyes, Harris’ defense makes up for a lot of lack at the plate, but I also believe that he can be an integral part of the offense if used correctly.
I think Harris would be best suited in the struggling lineup in the leadoff spot. Harris got on base the best this season (.268 OBP) in the 13 games in the leadoff spot.
Yes, I know some of you are wondering “has this guy seen what Acuna has done in the leadoff spot?” and the answer is YES, I get it that Acuna is crushing it in the leadoff spot right now. That said, I would love to see how much the lineup gets lengthened by having Harris leadoff ahead of Acuna batting second.
Over the past decade, baseball has adopted the thinking of the team’s best hitter batting second in a “best of both worlds” mindset. With Acuna batting second, it would allow him more at-bats on average throughout the season than hitting third or clean-up but also putting him in more situations to hit with runners on base than the leadoff spot.
At the end of the day, it’s no secret that the main issue facing the Braves the past few years is the fact of living and dying by the long ball along with the “big names” in the lineup not producing as expected.
Atlanta has seen how exciting and magical this lineup can be with the record setting offensive production in 2023, and the World Series run in 2021.
2023 saw a microcosm of what the past two seasons have been with the live and die by the homer mentality. The Braves tied the MLB record with 307 homers with Matt Olson set the Braves single season record with 54 long balls. All of that accumulated in 104 wins, the first team to clinch a playoff berth in MLB and so much excitement coming into the playoffs.
That would be spun on it’s head with a quick exit with the Braves being beaten in three of four games against the division rival Phillies while scoring just three runs combined in the three losses.
For someone that is an old-school baseball purist at heart, while a 500-foot homer is great when it’s happening, it’s excruciating to watch when it’s not for an extended period of time and also magnifies struggles.
To me, the biggest issue has been brewing for a couple years with Atlanta and it’s the inability to manufacture runs.
This may be an old-school approach, but getting on base, using productive outs, and stringing together hits is what leads to sustained success in an organization, and that’s what has been missing from this lineup especially in 2025.
I know I’m not breaking news with this revelation, but contrary to popular opinion, Michael Harris isn’t the problem in this lineup, Austin Riley has struggled at times but has also been one of the more productive hitters at times as well.
It’s time to step back and really look at the big picture that has been being painted over the last two plus seasons and will come to fruition around the trade deadline depending on what the Braves do roster wise over the next month.
Let Me Re-Introduce Myself
By: Michael Spiers
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Well, the Atlanta Braves made some noise and it wasn’t the kind anyone really saw coming.
In a pretty rare midseason move, they’ve shaken up the coaching staff, reassigning third base coach Matt Tuiasosopo and bringing in an old, familiar face. Braves fans, please meet Fredi Gonzalez.
Yeah, that Fredi Gonzalez. The same guy who once managed the Braves, got fired, and was replaced by Brian Snitker is now joining Snit’s staff as the new third base coach.
So, what happened?
Tuiasosopo isn’t being kicked to the curb entirely. He’s moving into a new role as the team’s minor league infield coordinator. The change stems from one big issue, which has been a growing number of overly aggressive sends at third base that cost the Braves runs in close games.
There is no denying that with Atlanta finding itself in more than a few nail biters lately, every base, and every possible run, counts.
What makes this move especially interesting is that General Manager Alex Anthopoulos had never made an in-season coaching change before. Not in Atlanta, not in Toronto, not ever.
He said this was something he’d been thinking about for a while. It wasn’t a snap decision, and it wasn’t just about frustration. It all came down to one thing, and that was the availability of the right guy.
When Fredi Gonzalez’s name came up, everything clicked. He’s got tons of big-league experience, including time as a third base coach under Bobby Cox before managing the Braves and Marlins.
Most recently, he coached with the Orioles and even spent time evaluating umpires and working at a small college in Pennsylvania.
But more than his resumé, Anthopoulos said it had to be someone who could step in right away and be effective.
No guesswork, no experiments. And with Fredi, the reviews around the league were glowing. Add in the fact that he and Snitker are longtime friends who just worked together recently in Philly, and the decision became a lot easier.
Tuiasosopo, to his credit, handled the move like a pro. Anthopoulos said they gave him the option to stay in the organization or move on, and Tui wanted to stay.
He’s still well liked in the clubhouse, and his work with the Braves’ infielders has been a huge part of the team’s defensive success. Now, he’ll continue that impact at the minor league level.
And let’s be real, third base coach is one of the most pressure packed spots on a staff. You’re making split second decisions that can literally swing games.
So, it’s not a knock on Tuiasosopo as a coach or as a person, it just wasn’t the right fit in that role right now. Anthopoulos even said they wouldn’t have made a change unless someone with Fredi’s experience was available. That’s how rare this move was.
There were no other changes considered. Snitker and Anthopoulos both still believe in the rest of the coaching staff. But with the team grinding through so many close games this year, this was a move they felt could make a real difference.
At the end of the day, it’s about getting better wherever you can, even if the change is tough.
Gonzalez brings stability, credibility, and a fresh set of eyes to a spot where the Braves really needed it. Time will tell if it pays off, but if you’re looking for a spark that could turn one-run losses into one-run wins, this might be it.
Even Ground
By: Cameron Miller
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Let’s not sugarcoat it, the Atlanta Braves began the 2025 about as poorly as you could imagine, which put them in trouble. Deep trouble.
The Braves were a team that came into the season with real championship aspirations and a roster that’s loaded with All-Star talent. The first half of this season so far was really nothing short of a flat out failure.
They’ve been dealing with major injuries such as a pair of their young Superstars, Ronald Acuna Jr and Spencer Strider, being out of the lineup for them.
The injuries are one excuse, but at the end of the day you’ve got to step up with “next man up” mentality and that’s something they just couldn’t do at the beginning of the season. They had many of us wondering if this was really the same Braves team that once ruled the NL East.
So yes, reaching a .500 win percentage may not seem like much, because at this point it doesn’t even earn you a playoff spot, But make no mistake this milestone really does matter.
It marks a turning point in a season that, not too long ago, really looked like it might spiral into something we would all want to forget.
But here’s the thing about baseball, it gives you time. Time to figure it all out. Time to get healthy and get motivated.
And, over the past few weeks, the Braves finally have shown signs of life. They managed to claw their way back to .500 (21 wins & 21 losses) without the help of Ronald Acuna Jr or Spencer Strider and in doing so, they’ve reminded everyone around the league that they’re not going down without a fight.
The .500 mark isn’t about mediocrity; it’s about resilience and determination.
Eli White has been making a good start as a placeholder for Ronald Acuna Jr in right field, but Acuna is scheduled to rejoin the team for action on June 1st, so when he does make his way back in the starting lineup, the Braves will have another solid option in the field or at the plate if needed.
Spencer Strider on the other hand has been dealing with all different types of injuries; he has been dealing with a right elbow sprain since last season and right now it’s a right hamstring sprain he’s working to come back from.
Still, let’s not get too romantic about a .500 team. This roster was built to contend, not just merely survive.
The Braves aren’t in first place; they aren’t even leading the Wild Card race. But they’re alive and just a few weeks ago, that felt like a long shot. They picked up some steam just in time to try and give themselves a real chance to make a push in the NL East.
Reaching .500 isn’t a reason to celebrate, but it is a call to action. It’s a sign that the Braves have turned the tide just enough to make the rest of the season meaningful and enjoyable. And in a year where they were getting close to playing themselves out of relevance, that’s a victory worth acknowledging.
If they keep this momentum going, we’ll look back at this week not as a meaningless statistical checkpoint, but as the moment the 2025 Braves started to matter again.
Run
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
They all should have known better.
Jarred Kelenic should have ran. Brian Snitker should have benched his talent. And Ronald Acuña Jr. should have addressed the double standard internally rather than taking to X to say, “If it were me, they would take me out of the game.”
Acuña, who is not with the Atlanta Braves while recovering from a torn left ACL, later deleted his controversial post. The problem for Snitker, a Braves lifer, is that his star right fielder essentially stated a fact.
Snitker removed Acuña from a game in August 2019 for the same offense Kelenic committed Saturday night; failing to run hard on a fly ball out of the batter’s box he thought would be a home run.
He also pulled Ender Inciarte for lack of hustle in July 2018 and Marcell Ozuna for the same misstep in June 2023. Do you sense a pattern?
Snitker defended Acuña when the Miami Marlins repeatedly drilled Acuña in 2018. He continued playing Ozuna when many Braves fans booed him and wanted him released during his slow start to the 2023 season. And those are just two examples.
Still, just as players make mistakes, so do managers. Snitker hardly distinguished himself with his failure to bench Kelenic and his feeble responses to reporters’ questions about the incident the past two days.
Consider what Snitker said after benching Acuña, then the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, in 2019:
“He didn’t run. You’ve got to run. It’s not going to be acceptable here. As a teammate, you’re responsible for 24 other guys. That name on the front is a lot more important than the name on the back of that jersey.
“You can’t do that. We’re trying to accomplish and do something special here, and personal things have to be put on the back burner. You just can’t let your team down like that.”
Snitker should have taken the same stance with Kelenic, a struggling player and easier target than Acuña, a future MVP. Kelenic very well could be the player sent to Triple A when Acuña rejoins the Braves, possibly in early May.
Acuña was 21 then. He is 27 now, married with two sons. The general consensus around the Braves in recent seasons was that he matured, in the way most young players do in the MLB.
His post on X, like many reactions on social media, was made in the heat of the moment. But if there’s one thing players detest in managers, it’s inconsistency. Snitker was inconsistent with Kelenic. Acuña can be forgiven for lodging an objection.
How will this play out?
Down On The Farm
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Although the Braves may be off to a slow start to the 2025 season, we’ve said a couple of times/ways that “it’s not time to hit the panic button for Braves fans.”
Although the main reason for that is that it’s only April, another piece is what’s coming for the Braves along the horizon.
When most fans think of the “future” of a club, they think about the minor league system, and we’ll get there, but to start a trio of familiar names closer to making a major impact on the big club in the ATL.
Spencer Strider is the closest. After two dominant outings in his rehab assignment with Triple-A Gwinnett, rumblings say that Strider could be activated in Atlanta as soon as next week.
Ronald Acuna Jr. seems to be trending in the right direction as well. The former NL MVP is hoping to get cleared to start cutting and start/stopping while running which is one of the final hurdles before beginning his minor league rehab trip.
While those two are the front of mind for Braves fans, one that could be a dark horse is Craig Kimbrel. The Braves signed Kimbrel back to his original team late in the process of Spring Training, so Kimbrel has had to work his way back into season shape and is close to facing live hitters.
Once that happens, it would make sense that he has a little more extended time at a couple different minor league levels, but some say that (assuming all goes well and he’s effective) Kimbrel could be back on an Atlanta mound in May.
As far as the farm goes for the Braves, four of the top 5 Braves prospects are expected to see time in the big leagues this season.
The Braves top prospect actually broke camp with the team in Drake Baldwin. Now that Sean Murphy has returned from injury, Baldwin is now the backup. Although the first thought may be “why not send him back to Triple A to get consistent at-bats?”
I think keeping him in “The Show” is absolutely the best move. With him expected to be a huge piece of the Braves’ future, having him learn the big-league level and also being able to catch and get to know the pitching staff is unbelievably beneficial.
While the #2 overall prospect in the organization is still a couple of years away in theory with Cam Caminiti in Rookie Ball, Prospects #3-5 are expected to make an impact in the Bigs this year.
Hurston Waldrep is starting the year in Gwinnett with the Stripers. The former Florida Gator is off to a 1-0 start of the year with Gwinnett with eight strikeouts in nine innings of work.
The 4th best prospect in the Atlanta System is starting the year on the injured list, but Nacho Alvarez Jr. had thirty at-bats last season with the big club.
The middle infielder has a huge up-side with the glove and is a career .284 hitter in over 900 minor league at-bats.
Finally, the 5th best prospect, Drue Hackenberg is a former dominant force in the ACC with the Virginia Tech Hokies which led him to be a 2nd round pick by the Braves in 2023.
Hackenberg starts the 2025 season with the newly formed Columbus Clingstones (Double A affiliate). In two years in the Braves organization, Hackenberg boasts a 3.14 ERA in 30 career starts.
All of this to say, yes, the first two weeks of the season haven’t been what Atlanta was looking for, but while it evens out, also know reinforcements are on the way to the ATL.
Bombs Away
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Torpedo bats have been the main focus of baseball at the start of the 2025 MLB season and bat companies are winning big as a result.
Marucci and Victus, the new official bats of MLB, as well as Chandler were the first manufacturers to put torpedo bats on sale, at prices ranging from $199 to $239.
MLB Commissioner Manfred also called torpedo bats, another relatively new advancement in the sport that’s rapidly gaining popularity, “absolutely good for baseball.”
The bats differ from traditional models due to their shape, which comes from redistributing their weight so that the densest part, or the “sweet spot,” is closer to the handle.
The barrel (where players want the bat to make contact with the ball) is bigger. These bowling-pin-shaped bats have sparked interest among players and spurred discussions among fans, and of course Manfred supports the interest and attention.
The Yankees helped bring the torpedo bats mainstream earlier in the season after they hit 15 homers and scored 36 runs in only three games against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Five Yankees — Cody Bellinger, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Paul Goldschmidt, Anthony Volpe and Austin Wells — used torpedo bats in the opening 4 game series, and they combined for 10 of the club’s record-setting 18 home runs in its first four games.
If not for the initial offensive barrage from the Yankees, it’s likely the level of interest in the torpedo bats would not be so pronounced.
Torpedo bats are recently mainstream, but they were being used under the radar in 2024. Yankees slugger Giancarlo Stanton used a torpedo bat all last season and finished with his best stats since 2021.
Behind the scenes, Stanton’s adoption of the technology during his torrid postseason last October started generating buzz in the bat industry, according to Smith. Stanton had seven home runs and a 1.048 OPS for the Yankees in the 2024 playoffs.
New York Mets superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor also used a torpedo bat last season and finished second in the National League MVP voting.
While the bats have only recently become a major storyline across the league, it turns out that uniquely shaped bat experiments have actually been happening quietly across baseball for a long time. Why the national uproar now on bat technology?
Torpedo bats are not under the radar anymore. Players across the sport have started asking manufacturers for their own versions.
Birch seems to be the preferred wood for the bats, which were designed to help hitters make truer contact in an age where more and more pitchers are throwing 100 mph and offering nastier repertoires than ever.
For decades in baseball’s past, players swung bats made of ash until Barry Bonds (with the help of steroids) helped popularize maple in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Christian Yelich was happy that there was a possible technological advancement in hitting. Yelich noted that over the past several years, most of the advancements have come on the pitching side.
Torpedo bats might be the response to the technical and analytical advancements that pitching has seen in the past 5-10yrs.
In other words, time for the hitters to get their turn.
