ATLANTA — The Braves added extra versatility to their roster on Wednesday night time, once they signed Mike Yastrzemski to a two-year, $23 million contract.
Yastrzemski will earn $9 million in 2026 and $10 million in 2027. The deal features a membership choice price $7 million for the 2028 season, with a $4 million buyout.
To make room on the roster, the Braves designated outfielder Michael Siani for task.
Yastrzemski’s capability to play every of the outfield spots will give supervisor Walt Weiss an opportunity to usually relaxation every of his three common outfielders — Jurickson Profar, Michael Harris II and Ronald Acuña Jr. — by both utilizing them because the DH or by giving them extra days off than Atlanta’s starters have gotten over the previous few years.
With Yastrzemski being the higher defensive choice than Profar, he would possibly get a majority of his outfield begins in left subject.
The left-handed Yastrzemski had an .809 OPS towards right-handed pitchers and a .427 OPS towards lefties this previous season. Mauricio Dubón, who may also start the season on Atlanta’s bench if the workforce can discover a beginning shortstop, had a .748 OPS towards left-handers and a .602 OPS towards righties in 2025.
This combine ought to give Weiss loads of choices when devising lineups and when needing to make in-game changes.
Yastrzemski, 35, had an intriguing second half to his 2025 season after being traded on the Deadline. His batting common and on-base share with the Royals following the commerce (.237, .339) have been almost an identical to his numbers with the Giants (.231, .330). However his energy numbers noticed a major enhance: The veteran outfielder hit 14 doubles and 9 homers in 50 video games in Kansas Metropolis, in comparison with 14 doubles and eight homers in his earlier 96 in San Francisco. That resulted in a 145-point spike in his slugging share (.355 earlier than the commerce, .500 after), bringing his season slash line to .233/.333/.403.
These 50 video games have been Yastrzemski’s first within the Majors not spent with the Giants, with whom he made his debut as a 28-year-old in 2019 after six years within the Orioles’ system. From his debut via the top of the shortened 2020 season, he performed 161 video games and hit .281/.375/.535 (136 OPS+) with seven triples, 31 residence runs and 90 RBIs for the Giants and completed eighth in NL MVP voting in 2020.
Though he is by no means fairly matched that degree of manufacturing since — he hit .227 with a .425 slugging share from 2021-25 — Yastrzemski remained a mainstay for the Giants till the time of the commerce and nonetheless leads the membership in video games performed, hits, doubles, triples, residence runs, RBIs, walks and runs scored since his debut.
A particular fly ball hitter, Yastrzemski’s pull-side energy performed fairly effectively whilst a left-handed hitter at Oracle Park. Additionally notable is his lengthy observe file of sturdy protection in San Francisco, the place he was twice named a Gold Glove finalist (2021, ’24) spending most of his time in a difficult proper subject. Yastrzemski’s 11 outfield assists in 2025 have been additionally tied for third-most in baseball, trailing solely Steven Kwan (13) and Jordan Beck (12), an MLB-high 9 of which got here earlier than the All-Star break.
