Braves left fielder Jurickson Profar suffered what the club described as a jammed left wrist during today’s Grapefruit League game with the Pirates. Profar suffered the injury while trying to make a diving catch of a line drive in the fourth inning, and the outfielder was in obvious discomfort in the aftermath of the play.
X-rays were negative on Profar’s wrist, and Braves team trainer George Poulis told reporters (including MLB.com’s Mark Bowman) that there is hope that Profar has avoided any more serious injury. The final diagnosis won’t be known for certain, however, until Profar undergoes an MRI to check for structural damage.
Profar was the Braves’ biggest offseason acquisition, as his huge 2024 season with the Padres resulted in a three-year, $42MM free agent deal from Atlanta. Profar has been rather notoriously inconsistent during his MLB career, but he delivered his best numbers at age 31 and in his 11th season in the Show. Signed to just a $1MM guaranteed last winter, Profar exploded for 24 home runs and a .280/.380/.459 slash line over 668 plate appearances with the Padres, earning All-Star and Silver Slugger recognition.
Since Ronald Acuna Jr. will miss some time at the start of the season recovering from his torn ACL, signing Profar was a logical way for the Braves to bolster their outfield ranks. The plan was to have Profar and Michael Harris II play every day in left and center field, with Jarred Kelenic and Bryan De La Cruz platooning in right field until Acuna is healthy, though if Profar now has to miss any time, Kelenic and De La Cruz could be bumped up to regular status in the corner outfield slots. Eli White could get more playing time in this scenario, and non-roster invitees Jake Marisnick or Conner Capel might have a path to the Opening Day roster if Profar winds up on the injured list.
Losing Profar to the IL would be another blow to Atlanta’s everyday lineup. Beyond Acuna still being on the mend, Sean Murphy broke a rib after hit by a pitch last week, leaving the starting catcher out of action for the next 4-6 weeks. Top catching prospect Drake Baldwin is available as Murphy’s likely fill-in, but filling a hole in the outfield is trickier since the Braves were already lacking depth on the grass with Acuna out.
I thought we were in the 2025 season not still in 2024 smh 🙁
I like Pro hopefully it isn’t too serious.
Hopefully nothing, or a minor sprain. Go Pro, all love from SD!!
Not a great way to start 2025 for him. Thats a signigicant injury.
He’s getting an MRI. You don’t know that.
I do, have you jammed your wrist.
Jammed wrists are terrible. Have pain in mine for over two weeks now after falling. Swinging anything let alone a bat isn’t fun. Opening the peanut butter jar without pain doesn’t happen. It can definitely effect offensive output. Dylan Carlson knows
@VegasSDfan I actually have and got hurt running the bases back in high school. Took some Advil and taped up my wrist real good and went back to playing in a few days. Took months to finally heal though.
I jammed my wrist at 16. Sometimes in certain conditions I can feel the injury in my mid-60s.
Spring Training Rules: No dune buggy riding, no surfing, no diving for balls in the outfield
Great dude, hope he’s fine
How is he a great dude?
If he doesn’t answer does that mean he’s not?
NO WORRIES
It’s that this morning he brushed the wrist against the jam on his toast.
RESULT = Jammed Wrist.
Don’t quit your day job.
Braves are gonna be a dumpster fire this season.
I truly hope so but their team has a pretty good lineup and decent pitching, i dont ever discount them, tho it should be concerning to people what happened to them at the end of the year and into the playoffs, they looked like S H T and did not look like a playoff team at all
I won’t knock them on letting Fried go. I think that was a smart decision by them and an unwise one by the Yankees
I pull for my Pads, but as a pseudo-GM I follow all teams. I am concerned for the Braves’ rotation. Keeping my mind open though… and sure hoping Profar is uninjured!
They definitely needed to add another starter, especially with Strider coming back from injury and Sale always being uncertain. They’ve traded away a fair amount of depth the past few years and it’s bound to catch up sooner or later
They’ve traded some depth, but a lot of the guys they traded were out of options and weren’t in line to make the 26-man roster.
Thanks for the insightful commentary Lou.
It’s obvious to me once healthy , and perhaps even 80 to 90% healthy, that the Braves are the best team in the NL East. And if it’s obvious to me (who is just an ignorant SOB after all) it should be obvious to you.
Okay. Well, as long as you say so. Wouldn’t want you to make any factual arguments to support your conclusion. We’ll all take what you’re saying on faith, Mr. Manson.
Kinda dumb trying to make a diving catch in ST.
Can it just Fricken STOP!!!!!!!!!! It’s 2025, I wanted to bury the memory of 24 in a pine box.
Wasn’t really a diving stop. It just sorta looked like a clumsy play.
Just gonna draft no one tomorrow night, better strategy than the alternative to draft anyone since everyone is gonna be injured.
“Profar’s has been rather notoriously inconsistent…” His golf swing? Ability to play a believeable air guitar? Or…? Hahahaha
Anyone being honest knew 2 months ago that this was a catastrophic signing for the Braves. This is expected. Now he even has a built in excuse like Murphy when he plays poorly.
Could not agree more. This is BJ Upton 2.0
An injury might actually be doing them a favor
So happy he got paid and it wasn’t the padres.
Blah
The last 3 Braves teams have been better than the World Series team.
And yet
Playoff baseball
Snit and Double A will find a way to win.
This injury isn’t the issue—the real mistake was assuming Profar’s 2024 was repeatable. Betting on regression-prone players as key pieces of a contending roster is bad process, and the Braves are about to learn that the hard way.
Tough luck really, can’t write off Profar’s ’25 season expecting him to regress, if anything, he has improved his play steadily.
Braves need him healthy though, OF was soft last season too, they don’t have a lot of depth. Who knows where Ronald Acuna is at, I think he’s upset with his contract, and he’s not going to get a new one either until he puts in a couple more good seasons.
@Old York For one to be “regression-prone” more often than not they would have to regress. In Profar’s case more often than not he has provided more value than not season over season.
Presenting assumptions as facts does not make them a reality.
Hoping Profar is ok. He was such a vital part of the 2024 Padres and just because he got his big contract doesn’t mean that I will not still cheer for him when he is not playing the Padres.
Braves look like a 90 win team with or without profar.