We take a quick look back at a depth outfielder I was once moderately excited about, but who performed as a replacement level depth option.
Fairchild was acquired right at the beginning of the season, as the Braves traded cash to the Reds for him. He was a nice depth option for what I’m assuming was a trivial cost. This was all before the season went fully off the rails, so it was more a depth move than a desperation move. The Braves ended up trading him to the Rays for cash mid-season, presumably recouping some of whatever paltry amount they traded for him originally.
What were the expectations?
Expectations were fairly good for a clear depth piece . I recall liking the addition a decent bit, as he graded out a a pretty good defender and a bat that wasn’t starter-level but wouldn’t kill you.
In parts of four seasons, he had an 89 wRC+ with no notable wOBA-xwOBA deviation, and 1.6 fWAR across 615 PAs due to some pretty good defensive play in the outfield. He put up 0.9 fWAR in just 255 PAs in 2023, but slipped both offensively and defensively in 2024, which is probably why the Reds had few issues moving on. He was basically expected to be a fifth-outfielder type who hit okay and fielded pretty well, but didn’t do either enough to warrant starting.
Fairchild played pretty much exactly like his profile would indicate, as an above average defender and a below average hitter. His offense continued to slip (68 wRC+) but his defense was fine, so he totaled 0.0 fWAR in 55 PAs. Maybe he would’ve gotten more run had Eli White not been available, but the Braves largely handed the “backup, righty-hitting outfielder” reins to White, so Fairchild ended up infrequently-used.
He had a few nice extra base hits and his speedy baserunning helped out as a hitter and pinch-runner on occasion, featuring at number 4 in our “10 most important hits of 2025 for the Atlanta Braves” (by WPA) piece. This also isn’t anything spectacular, but he largely played exactly as you would expect from his profile and there is something to be said for getting what you expect to get out of a player in terms of performance.
That said, he didn’t really factor in all that much into games by himself. His highest-WPA game came in a loss to the Orioles, where he went 2-for-3, including a bunt single to lead off the bottom of the eighth when down two to bring the tying run to the plate. (Ronald Acuña Jr. grounded out and then Jurickson Profar and Matt Olson struck out, making a weird inning where Fairchild reached but none of those guys did.)
His highest-WPA single play of the season was also a bunt with the Braves down two — this time the pitcher actually had a throwing error that put Fairchild on second, and he later came around to score on a two-out single. The Braves actually ended up tying that game in the ninth, but lost it in the tenth on a walkoff anyway.
Not that you can really be mad about his 55-PA sample, but his .267 xwOBA was the lowest of his career in a single season, and his 68 wRC+ was the second-worst aside from a 17-PA cup of coffee with Arizona back in 2021. Maybe if he had run into a homer somewhere… but he didn’t.
Fairchild did not appear for the Rays after they traded for him, and spent the last couple months of the season on the Injured List with an oblique injury.
Fairchild is currently a free agent, after being DFAed by Tampa Bay at the end of the season and electing free agency.
Hopefully he can come back from his oblique injury healthy this offseason, but there’s no reason to think he wouldn’t be able to get himself a minor league deal and Spring Training invite from someone, perhaps even a small major league contract. He’s still 29, so he shouldn’t be on much of a decline, if any, and he still graded out as quite fast in 2025, with an 86th percentile sprint speed. I imagine he will be at least in the running to pick up a roster spot on some team’s 26-man roster as a serviceable depth outfielder who can play some defense and be a useful pinch-running option. He’s still the same fifth outfielder guy he was before the Braves got him and rarely used him, and maybe someone needs that enough to roster it.