"We had Jurickson Profar as 2nd best free agent bat to Juan Soto" - Braves president makes surprising revelation after $42,000,000 move

The Atlanta Braves announced on Tuesday that they've signed the outfielder Jurickson Profar on a 3-year, $42 million deal. Profar was impressive last season as he recorded a .280 batting average while hitting 24 home runs and earning 85 runs with 10 stolen bases. Among all the NL left fielders, his 4.3 fWAR was the highest and he was above the 90th percentile in expected batting average and wOBA.

After a great season, the Atlanta Braves signed Profar in the offseason. In the latest episode of the Braves Podcast released on Thursday, Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos gave a glimpse of their front office conversations regarding Profar.

"Yeah, we assess the free agent market trade market at the beginning of the off-season, you know, based on last year, of course. You know, we had Jurickson as the second best free agent back, just based off the season last year," Anthopoulos said. "That's how good we thought he played and performed. And look, off-seasons, there's so many different areas you can make your team better. I know you guys have asked me in the past, you know, is there one specific area, we could, we had room in the rotation bullpen and to get a bat.

"I mean, again, we had him based off last year, you know, we had him as the second best free agent back to Juan Soto based off 2024. I know that's extremely high praise. I'm not saying he's that, but that's how good he was. And if you look at his career, you know, the decision-making, the on base, the contact, that's always been there. That's always been a part of his game. He just didn't necessarily hit the ball all that, that hard. And if you looked at his swing, it kind of correlated and you see some of the changes he made. We believe that he's tapped into some power and that's here to stay," he added. [0:30 onwards]

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Jurickson Profar will play left field donning the Atlanta Braves jersey in the 2025 season

After signing Bryan De La Cruz on December 16, the Atlanta Braves went silent in the offseason market until they signed Jurickson Profar, adding more outfield depth. Profar is a switch hitter and will now join the likes of Jarred Kelenic, Eli White, Michael Harris, and De La Cruz.

Profar will reportedly play left field with Harris in center field. At the same time, De La Cruz and Kelenic will take turns in the right field position as the Braves eagerly wait for Ronald Acuna Jr's return.

Jurickson Profar got his first big contract at the age of 31 when he signed a $1 million deal with the San Diego Padres. He was selected in the MLB All-Star game last season for the first team and was also the starting left fielder for the National League team.