Coming off a streak of seven straight seasosn of postseason play, including a World Series victory in 2021 â just the fourth in the three-city-spanning history of the franchise â the Atlanta Braves were curiously passive over the offseason. They made no noteworthy free agent signings in 2024, sticking mainly to small deals for minor league contracts. Finally, on January 23, 2025, the Braves struck.
The club signed former San Diego Padres free agent outfielder Jurickson Profar to a three-year deal worth $42 million. The deal was certainly welcomed by fans of the team, who were puzzled why the Braves did not move quicker to find a new, quality outfielder who could make up for the loss of Ronald Acuña Jr., who continues to sit out as he recovers from his second ACL knee surgery.
The four-time All-Star, 2018 National League Rookie of the Year and 2023 MVP is not expected back in the Atlanta lineup until late May at the earliest. The Braves hoped that signing the 32-year-old, 12-year veteran Profar would help patch up the outfield, as the native of Willemstad, Curacao, posted a career season in 2024.
Profar, then a member of the Padres, was selected to his first All-Star team and finished the season with 24 home runs and an .839 OPS, also winning his first Silver Slugger award in the process.
Seriously Ugly Start to 2025 For Atlanta
But even with Profar in the lineup while missing Acuña Jr., the Braves started the 2025 campaign in brutal fashion. Heading into San Diego for a season-opening four-game set against the Padres, Profar’s former team and the one that eliminated the Braves from the playoffs with a two-game Wild Card Series sweep last year, Atlanta lost all four games.
With Profar slapping three singles and drawing one walk with three strikeouts in 16 plate appearances, the Braves were outscored in the series 17-7. In the final two games of the four-game series, the Braves were shut out both times. In fact, heading into Monday night’s matchup with the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, the Braves had gone scoreless in 22 straight innings.
On Monday, the news got even worse for Atlanta, when they found out that Profar had tested positive for a substance banned under MLB’s policy banning performance enhancing drugs, according to an ESPN.com report.
The Braves $42 million acquisition will now serve a suspension of 80 games. That means, unless he can win an appeal to shorten or eliminate the suspension, the Braves will be without Profar until June 29, when they play Game 85 of their season.
Profar Describes Himself as ‘Devastated’
Profar issued a statement, quoted by ESPN.com, in which he described himself as “devastated” and called Monday “the most difficult day of my baseball career.” Profar said he had been subjected to eight PED tests in 2024 without a single positive.
No further details on Profar’s alleged positive test were made available by Monday afternoon.
Profar was due to be paid $12 million this season under his new contract. He will now see that payday reduced by almost half, as the 80-game suspension also means that Profar will not be paid for the games he misses as a result of the alleged PED policy violation.
The suspension only makes it more difficult for the Braves to turn their fortunes around after the ugly 0-4 opening series, and according to a report by Fansided Braves writer Chris Schad, could mean that manager Brian Snitker may soon find his job in jeopardy.
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