The Braves are getting the band again collectively, buying and selling with the San Francisco Giants to carry again slugger Jorge Soler and reliever Luke Jackson, who each have been huge elements of their 2021 World Sequence champion crew.
The Braves despatched left-handed reliever Tyler Matzek, who has missed many of the season with accidents, and third-base/outfield prospect Sabin Ceballos to the Giants within the deal.
Soler has been strictly a DH all season with San Francisco and had not performed the outfield, however began 31 video games in proper subject for the Marlins final season and continues to be athletic sufficient to play the place. The Braves clearly have a DH in All-Star Marcell Ozuna, however didn’t need to cross up the prospect so as to add Soler’s bat to an injury-plagued offense that’s been spotty many of the season.
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Giants commerce Jorge Soler and Luke Jackson, however bigger hearth sale not anticipated
Although Soler has hit a modest .240 with 12 homers and a .749 OPS in 93 video games for the Giants, the Braves are getting him amid a torrid stretch during which he’s hit .312 with eight extra-base hits (two homers), eight RBIs and a whopping 15 walks in his previous 17 video games for a .447 OBP and .972 OPS in that stretch. He’s owed $13 million every of the following two seasons. Ozuna is signed solely by this season, with a $16 million crew possibility for 2025 and a $1 million buyout.
The Braves traded for Soler on the 2021 commerce deadline from Kansas Metropolis, to nice returns. After becoming a member of Atlanta, he had 14 homers and an .882 OPS in 55 regular-season video games to assist the Braves come from behind to win the NL East, then was World Sequence MVP after hitting .300 with three homers and a 1.191 OPS within the six-game collection in opposition to the Houston Astros. That got here after he missed many of the NLCS after testing constructive for COVID-19.
Jackson, 32, spent 5 seasons with the Braves by 2021, when he had his most interesting yr with a 1.98 ERA in 71 appearances, then made 11 postseason appearances together with three scoreless appearances within the World Sequence. He has struggled this season with a 5.40 ERA in 36 appearances and has a $7 million crew possibility for 2025 with a $2 million buyout.
Matzek was wildly in style amongst Braves followers in 2021 after his iconic efficiency in Sport 6 of the NLCS in opposition to the Dodgers, essentially the most dramatic of his 11 scoreless outings in 13 appearances throughout that postseason, when he had a 1.72 ERA with 24 strikeouts and 4 walks in 15 2/3 innings.
He missed the 2022 postseason and all of 2023 recovering from Tommy John surgical procedure and had a few associated setbacks this yr that restricted him to 11 early season appearances with a 9.90 ERA. Matzek hasn’t pitched since Might 4.
Ceballos, 21, is a 6-3, 225-pound prospect whose athleticism, bat-to-ball abilities and uncooked energy make him intriguing. He had 18 homers and a 1.069 OPS for the College of Oregon in 2023 earlier than the Braves drafted him within the third spherical, however has not matched that faculty energy but in Excessive A, posting a .353 OBP and 24 extra-base hits (three homers) in 377 plate appearances. Atlanta has third baseman Austin Riley underneath contract by 2032.
(Photograph of Jorge Soler from June 3: Christian Petersen / Getty Pictures)
