There's not a single Atlanta Braves fan who's not still at least marginally lamenting the club's injury woes a season ago. So, it was certainly a traumatic reminder on Sunday when it was reported that Ha-Seong Kim suffered a freak injury to his hand while in Korea and will miss 4-5 months after undergoing surgery, the team announced. Kim, who arrived in Atlanta late last season, was signed to a one-year deal earlier this offseason and was primed to be the Braves' starter at shortstop on Opening Day.
Given the tumult at shortstop that Atlanta endured throughout the 2025 season, having Kim go down after falling on ice in Korea is a punch to the gut. If there's any silver lining, it's that the Braves do appear to be far more prepared to withstand that than they were a year ago after adding Mauricio Dubon via trade this offseason and with young Nacho Alvarez Jr. in the fold. However, if Atlanta feels like they need someone else, they need to act quickly — and one of these emergency options would fit the bill.
3. Jose Iglesias is near perfect as a Braves stopgap
I don't mean this nearly as derogatory as it might sound, but Jose Iglesias is almost the prototype for what a team like the Braves would want in finding a replacement for Kim. He's experienced as they come, having played 13 seasons in MLB to this point in his career. At 36 years old, he'll likely come dirt cheap to Atlanta or any team that signs him. And on top of that, you know exactly what you're going to get from Iglesias as well.
Braves fans shouldn't expect something like Iglesias' wildly fun "OMG" run with the Mets in 2024, but they can expect him to be a league-average bat with little-to-no power who's going to play respectable defense. After all, he's had a positive bWAR in every season of his career aside from 2021, where a disastrous stint with the Angels sunk him in that department. He's also had at least a .700 OPS in every year since 2018, when his OPS was .699.
When you put that all together, that's a player Atlanta could bring into the fold, rotate at shortstop and other infield spots how they see fit, not worry about him being a detriment, and then also not feel bad about cutting loose once Kim is back in the fold. That's a lot of boxes that he would check in this situation.
2. Isiah Kiner-Falefa is basically a career fill-in option at this point
Admittedly, the narrative around signing Isiah Kiner-Falefa would be much worse than what the Braves would actually be getting from such a move. The last we saw of the veteran utility man was the much-maligned base-running snafu that some have argued cost the Blue Jays the World Series after he failed to gain a secondary lead at third base and was then thrown out by a half-step at home plate.
That's certainly something that the Braves would have to consider, but much like with Iglesias, it's also simply a player who fits the need. Nothing about IKF suggests that he'll be good enough to create some sort of controversy between him and Kim when the latter returns, but you do know that you're going to get plus defense and at least, in theory, good contact hitting and offensive reliance in that one department.
You'll notice a theme here in that both Iglesias and Kiner-Falefa aren't exactly needle-movers. That's not what the Braves need given that they've already acquired some cushion to withstand this injury. Someone like IKF, though, would give them even more cushion, and not to mention flexibility with his ability to play multiple positions as well.
1. Luis Urias can offer the Braves the cheapest and best option
Luis Urias doesn't break the mold of Iglesias and IKF in that he's not a surefire needle-mover. After all, he's coming off a season with the Athletics in which he posted just a .653 OPS across 287 at-bats. At the same time, he might be the preferred option in my book because of the volatility that he offers in addition to the positional versatility he and Dubon would give the Braves as they try to fill shortstop.
Over the course of his career, Urias has played every infield spot besides first base. That would obviously give Atlanta more fallback options and movability with their defense and, in turn, the lineup. But more than that, we've also seen Urias' production be a bit all over the map. Back in 2021, he posted a .789 OPS with Milwaukee with 23 homers and 25 doubles while playing in 150 games. The same number of opportunities hasn't been there for him since, and neither has that upside either.
Having said that, he offers more pop in the bat than either Iglesias or Kiner-Falefa, while also being just as cheap — if not cheaper — than those guys. For someone who would likely be rotating with Dubon and Alvarez at shortstop and filling in at other infield spots when necessary, a lineup as good as the Braves' might benefit most from that variance that Urias could provide, simply because the good days are far better than they are with the alternatives, even if the bad days are worse.