Amidst a turbulent 2025 season, four Atlanta Braves players managed to stand out for end-of-season recognition. Ronald Acuña, Jr., Matt Olson, Drake Baldwin and Chris Sale have been named finalists for this season’s All-MLB Team selection.
This honor, decided by fan vote, recognizes players who stood out across the entire season. There is a First Team and a Second Team, as opposed to American League and National League teams that we see during the All-Star Game.
Acuña, despite a short season due to injury, once again finds his way onto the ballot. The 2023 National League MVP and starter in this year’s All-Star Game finished the season batting .290 with 21 home runs and 42 RBIs.
He also stole nine bases, a far cry from the numbers he’s become famous for, but keep in mind he’s been nursing his ACL back to health, again, and it was planned that he would cut back on the stolen bases.
Olson is the player most Braves fans would likely think of when identifying the best player for the Braves this season, and for good reason. He was recently named the 2025 Brave of the Year for the first time in his career.
The 31-year-old batted .272 with 29 homers and 95 RBIs, which, when combined with his 98 runs and 91 walks on the season. This marked the first time since Chipper Jones’ 1999 MVP campaign, and the second time overall, that a Braves player has recorded at least 25 home runs, 40 doubles, 90 RBIs and 90 walks in a season.
Drake Baldwin, the Braves’ rookie catcher, has been simply sensational this season and is well-positioned to be the first Braves player to win the National League Rookie of the Year Award since Michael Harris II in 2022.
In fact, his .274 average with 19 home runs and a staggering 80 RBIs has landed the young buck at the top of the All-MLB voting list, so he may be able to add yet another accolade to his stellar rookie season.
Finally, Sale, who, like Acuña, spent a significant portion of the year battling an injury, made his way onto the voting list as well. He represented the Braves in the All-Star Game for the second year in a row and is ninth time overall.
On the bump, Sale did, well, Sale things; he was 7-5 due in large part to offensive struggles, with a 2.58 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP, all while boasting 165 strikeouts. There’s an argument to be made that had he stayed healthy, he could have been en route to another Cy Young Award.
This excess of veteran talent leading the charge bodes well for the Braves’ future, especially since both Sale and Acuña struggled with severe injury for a large part of the season, and still made it both to the All-Star game and onto the All-MLB ballot. Drake Baldwin can’t be ignored when talking about this team’s future, too, establishing himself as an everyday-level ballplayer.
And, of course, it’d be amiss not to mention Matt Olson when discussing the team’s future, because it seems, no matter if the team is dominant or struggling, he’s the consistent factor that sets the foundation for the Braves’ stars to shine through.
