The Atlanta Braves had hoped that Jurickson Profar would be a stabilizing force for the outfield in the 2025 season, particularly with superstar Ronald Acuña Jr. missing the start of the season. Instead, a PED suspension in the first week of the season derailed that plan. But now, Profar is set to return to the Braves lineup at the start of the July, albeit with some questions as that happens still. Perhaps more notably, though, the corresponding roster move of designating Alex Verdugo for assignment amounts to taking one headache of the equation and adding another one.
Admittedly, Profar is probably less of a headache than Verdugo. The former Red Sox and Yankees outfielder was signed right before Profar's suspension came to light and became a fill-in. After a hot April, though, he couldn't even be that for the Braves. He hit .220 with an abysmal .547 in May, and that only got worse in June with a .203 average and .462 OPS. So it wasn't all that surprising — and honestly probably felt like a sigh of relief for Braves fans — to see The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal report that Verdugo was being DFA'd.
The Braves have designated outfielder Alex Verdugo for assignment, sources tell @TheAthletic. Clearing a spot for the return of Jurickson Profar.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) July 2, 2025
Make no mistake, there's good reason to believe that Profar can be a substantial upgrade in left field to help shore things up there for Atlanta, especially after raking with Triple-A Gwinnett with a .990 OPS, three homers and nine RBI across 48 at-bats in the minors to ramp up for his return. At the same time, though, the headaches won't be going away entirely.
Braves swap Alex Verdugo headache for another with Jurickson Profar's return
As we already mentioned, the biggest issue with Profar is that he's not postseason eligible because of the PED suspension. So, in the world where the veteran outfielder enters the fray and helps the Braves save their season with a push into a playoff spot, that's as far as he can help them. That would then leave Atlanta, not with Verdugo at least, but with Eli White, Stuart Fairchild and perhaps a trade deadline acquisition to help them solidify the outfield for the playoffs.
Beyond that, though, Profar's hot run in the minors doesn't reveal two inherent truths with Profar. For one, in his four games with the Braves prior to his suspension, he was 3-for-15 with a walk and no extra-base hits, good for a .450 OPS. That's an unfairly small sample size, but it's at least worth noting in this conversation.
At the same time, though, the All-Star selection last season with the Padres is largely an outlier for Profar in his career. He slashed a phenomenal .280/.380/.459 for the season with 24 home runs and 29 doubles. If the Braves could get that this season, they'd be over the moon ecstatic about the improvements offensively they'd be making in left field. The problem is that there's no reason to believe that's really the case.
From 2018-23 with Texas, Oakland, San Diego and Colorado, Profar slashed just .241/.325/.397 and averaged just 16 home runs, though with 31 doubles, per 162 games. The extra-base production is there and, even still, those would all be upgrades from the next-to-nothing that Verdugo was offering offensively. However, those numbers, particularly the averages and OPS, are a far cry from the player that Atlanta paid for this offseason based on the 2024 campaign with the Padres.
Make no mistake, the move to effectively replace Verdugo with Profar is an upgrade for the Braves. But this is like getting over a migraine only to then get a sinus or pressure headache. They're different, but neither is an ideal solution, or a solution at all potentially, to alleviate the pain of the Braves' disappointing season.