{"id":527332,"date":"2026-01-19T06:04:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T06:04:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/527332\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T06:04:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T06:04:23","slug":"atlanta-braves-announce-unfortunate-news-ahead-of-mlb-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/527332\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlanta Braves Announce Unfortunate News Ahead of MLB Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Atlanta Braves<\/a> are looking to bounce back in 2026. Missing the playoffs last season, Atlanta finished 76-86. This was the team’s worst mark since the 2017 season. Usually one of MLB’s perennial postseason contenders, the Braves were hampered by injuries last season, snapping a seven-year streak of making the playoffs.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest holes for Atlanta last season was at shortstop. The Braves’ .549 OPS at that position ranked dead last, as nether Nick Allen nor Ha-Seong Kim were able to produce any consistent offense. That said, the latter is just a few seasons removed from being above league average at the plate \u2014 which when paired with his Gold Glove caliber defense makes him a solid option at short.<\/p>\n

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Kim re-signed with the Braves this offseason on a one-year, $20 million deal. As he looks to get back to his 2023 form that saw him post a career-best 107 OPS+ in 152 games for the San Diego Padres, the right-handed hitting shortstop suffered a setback.<\/p>\n

It was announced by the Braves on Sunday that Kim will begin 2026 on the injured list with a finger injury.<\/p>\n

“INF Ha-Seong Kim sustained a hand injury while in Korea and underwent surgery to repair a torn tendon in his right middle finger,” the Braves announced. “The procedure was performed by Dr. Gary Lourie today in Atlanta, and the expected recovery time is 4-5 months.”<\/p>\n

Mark Bowman of MLB.com<\/a> later provided more insight on the injury that will sideline Kim to begin the season.<\/p>\n

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“Kim injured his right middle finger when he slipped on a sheet of ice while in his native Korea this past week,” Bowman wrote. “The 30-year-old missed the first three months of the 2025 season while recovering from offseason right shoulder (labrum) surgery. He also missed time with a back ailment last year.”<\/p>\n

Mauricio Dub\u00f3n, who the Braves acquired from the Houston Astros via trade earlier this offseason, is expected to open the year as Atlanta’s starting shortstop. The versatile infielder owns a career 85 OPS+ across seven seasons, but does have two Gold Glove awards. He profiles very similar to the type of player Atlanta has had at shortstop for much of the last year.<\/p>\n

With a healthy Ronald Acuna, Matt Olson and others, the Braves can still be a real bounce back candidate in 2026. But the uncertainty at shortstop is real, and the pitching staff could still use reinforcements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Atlanta Braves are looking to bounce back in 2026. Missing the playoffs last season, Atlanta finished 76-86.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527333,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2394],"tags":[191,46,4166,5,192,633,54,541,3617,69980,4,2270,9684,18],"class_list":["post-527332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-atlanta-braves","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-atlantabraves","tag-baseball","tag-braves","tag-ha-seong-kim","tag-houston-astros","tag-matt-olson","tag-mauricio-dubon","tag-middle-finger","tag-mlb","tag-nick-allen","tag-ronald-acuna","tag-san-diego-padres"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115920258309936021","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527332"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527332\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}