Welcome to The North Port Report, your nightly notebook from Braves spring training. Each evening, we’ll run through the biggest developments from camp: roster battles, injury updates, standout performances, and the small details that matter more than they seem in February. The games may not count yet, but the information does.
Atlanta is still paying penance for the 2021 World Series.
Manager Walt Weiss revealed that shortly after his live bullpen, youngster Hurston Waldrep reported pain and soreness in his elbow. Imaging and other tests showed no ligament damage, but he does have some “loose bodies” that will likely need to be surgically removed. Waldrep is set to meet with Dr. Keith Meister in Dallas to coordinate the elbow procedure, which, similar to Spencer Schwellenbach’s, has an unknown timeframe for his return depending on the extent of the procedure.
This makes the second postseason-caliber starter of Atlanta’s to go down in the last two weeks, complicating the Braves’ rotation picture for this summer and fall. Unless the organization thinks one of the upper-minors prospect pitchers, like JR Ritchie or Dider Fuentes, is prepared to step into the rotation this season, an external add will be required. Let’s hope that the Braves can find someone to come in at a contract they’re willing to extend or can find a trade partner with an ask that’s palatable.
Jurickson Profar has finally reported to camp, making a lot of news in the process.
The first is that he had sports hernia surgery last November. Per reports, the injury happened late in August, but he chose to play through it because he had already missed so much time earlier in the season. His monthly slash lines correspond to the timeframe.
In July, right after returning from his PED suspension, he hit .238/.313/.396, a .709 OPS and 93 wRC+. He was clearly healthy and at maximum effectiveness in August, putting up a .295/.428/.598 line, one that was good for a 1.026 OPS and 183 wRC+. But then in September, the injury cut his production down to a .200/.314/.311 clip, a .625 OPS and 82 wRC+.
Per Profar, he needed about six weeks of recovery but has been healthy for the bulk of the offseason and has no restrictions entering camp.
He also addressed reports that the Braves plan to use him heavily at designated hitter early in the season, prior to the return of Sean Murphy from hip surgery in mid-May. According to Gabe Burns of the AJC, Profar “did not seem excited” about being the primary designated hitter but vowed to do whatever was needed to help the team win.
Unfortunately for Profar, the addition of Mike Yastrzemski means that by defensive metrics, he is the odd man out of the outfield when all four are slated to be in the lineup. In just 701 innings in left field last year, Profar came in at -8 Fielding Run Value, being dinged for both his range (8th percentile mark of -6 Outs Above Average, an accumulation stat) and his arm (-2 Arm Value, a 13th percentile mark). Yastrzemski, by comparison, was at +2 Fielding Run Value with 1,102 innings in the field, primarily right but including 41 in center and 46 in left. He also had one of the most valuable outfield arms in baseball at +5 Arm Value, a 97th percentile mark.
Don’t make me tap the sign, Jurickson.
The outfielder is set to depart for the Netherlands’ WBC camp, along with teammates Ozzie Albies and Chadwick Tromp, sometime in the next two weeks ahead of pool play beginning on March 5th. Profar is set to play left field for manager Andruw Jones’ squad.
More on JR Ritchie, again from Gabe Burns. Ritchie credits his maturity to former Braves minor leaguer Kevin Gunderson. Drafted in 2006’s 5th round out of Oregon State, Gunderson spent four seasons in Atlanta’s system before retiring and moving into baseball training. Ritchie linked up with Oregon-based Gunderson Baseball in high school and trained with them prior to his commitment to UCLA and being taken by the Braves in 2022’s 1st round.
Something I missed from Saturday’s live BP sessions, but Bryce Elder faced the trio of Ozzie Albies, Ronald Acuña Jr., Michael Harris II, and Mauricio Dubón. Not being in North Port, I don’t know how it went, but what stood out to me is video that WSB-TV’s Alison Mastrangelo picked up after: Elder talking to the players for feedback and finding out what they saw and how he can improve. With the sinkerballer presumably going to break camp as the #5 starter, more consistency and a better ability to avoid the blowups that occasionally plagued him early last season could be big towards stabilizing a rotation that is already set to be without Spencer Schwellenbach for at least the first few months of the season. I wrote back in December about some changes they can make with his pitch mix and repertoire.
What Does Atlanta Do with Bryce Elder?
Bryce Elder. I’m going to stop short of proclaiming him the winner of the 5th starter job already, but at this point, everything has broken towards him being in the rotation on Opening Day. His only real competition in camp are the prospect Ritchie and a few arms that Anthopoulos described as veteran depth on non-roster invites in Carlos Carrasco and Martin Pérez.
Nothing as of now
I can’t get over Jurickson Profar’s comments. After losing half a season to a PED suspension, you would think that the default response is that he’s happy to have a full season of contributions in front of him and he’s ready to do whatever is needed or asked of him to ensure this franchise returns to the playoffs in 2026.
There’s even a way to simultaneously express displeasure and still say the right things. Let me write the script here. “Honestly, I’ve been working on my defense and take pride in the effort I put into fielding, but I’ll do whatever the team thinks is best. My only goal is to get the Braves back to the postseason, not spend a certain number of games in left field.”
He did throw in a “I’m here to help the team” at the very end of the answer, so maybe I’m overreacting a bit, but I think a little more prescient answer here would have been great.
Do the Braves make a trade or sign a starting pitcher? It’s hard to argue that the Braves can stand pat at this point, although I suppose that’s always a possibility with this front office.