Veteran outfielder Mike Yastrzemski signed with the Atlanta Braves on a two-year, $23 million contract. Yastrzemski has appeared in 840 MLB games across seven seasons, totaling 654 hits, 123 home runs, 433 runs scored, 364 RBIs and 25 stolen bases. His career slash line sits at .238/.324/.447 with a .772 OPS and 113 OPS+. Across his career, he has produced 17.1 WAR.
In 2025, Yastrzemski played 146 games between San Francisco and Kansas City. He recorded 111 hits, 17 home runs, 68 runs scored, 46 RBIs and seven stolen bases. His 2025 slash line was .233/.333/.403, resulting in a .735 OPS and 109 OPS+. He added 28 doubles and finished with 2.8 WAR.
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Upon signing with the Braves, Yastrzemski revealed some background on what this move means to him.
“My dad played in the Braves’ system back in the day,” Yastrzemski said via MLB.com. “Any time the Braves came through Fenway [Park], we’d always go and say hi to Bobby Cox, because my dad knew him. So, I have these long-term memories of rooting for the Braves from afar.”
The left-handed hitting outfielder added of his role, “They tried to explain everything about how they’d like to use me, and being as polite as I could, I tried to cut them off and told them, ‘Look, I don’t care. I want to be a part of an organization that wins.’ With them showing me the commitment [of] a two-year guaranteed deal, that gives me the ability to 100 percent buy in, be the best teammate I can and try to find any given way to help them out.”
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After winning the World Series in 2021, the Braves posted four consecutive winning seasons before a downturn in 2025. In 2022, Atlanta went 101-61 and finished first in the NL East before losing in the NLDS. The following year they improved to 104-58, again finishing first with another NLDS exit. In 2024 they went 89-73 and lost in the NL Wild Card round.
Atlanta’s 2025 season ending at 76-86, 20 games behind first place and without a postseason appearance. That said, they have been one of the NL’s more successful franchises the last five years, which is something Yastrzemski clearly looks forward to joining.
The Braves enter 2026 under new manager Walt Weiss after Brian Snitker’s run ended after 10 seasons. Weiss will have a new outfield option in Yastrzemski to utilize.
