Atlanta is desperate for an offensive spark. They’re getting Alex Verdugo instead.

The Atlanta Braves are desperate for something, anything to kickstart their moribund offense right now.

After a 3-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays in which they managed just eight baserunners to a whopping 19 strikeouts, Atlanta now sits 20th in MLB in team OPS; only the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies have struck out more so far this season.

It’s a shocking turn of events for a team with this much middle-of-the-order firepower, even with Ronald Acuña Jr. yet to make his debut, and it’s arguably the biggest reason the Braves find themselves in the NL East basement at 5-13.

There’s plenty of blame to go around, but the biggest culprit has been the outfield, where the trio of Michael Harris II, Jarred Kelenic and Bryan De La Cruz have been downright awful so far.

Acuña Jr.’s looming return figures to help considerably, but with Jurickson Profar suspended for 80 games after testing positive for PEDs, Atlanta needs someone to at least help keep the group above water offensively.

Unfortunately, what they’re getting is Alex Verdugo, who was promoted from Triple-A on Thursday afternoon.

The #Braves today recalled OF Alex Verdugo to Atlanta and optioned OF Bryan De La Cruz to Triple-A Gwinnett.

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 17, 2025

At this point, any change is good change; the way Kelenic and De La Cruz have been hitting, the corner outfield situation can’t get much worse.

But Braves fans hoping that the insertion of Verdugo into the lineup will fix everything for Atlanta might want to check in with fans of his former team first.

Alex Verdugo isn’t the spark the Braves’ offense is looking for

Expectations were reasonable enough for Verdugo when the New York Yankees acquired him from Boston last offseason.

Sure, he hadn’t become the star his prospect pedigree suggested he might, but he’d been an above league-average bat for each of his first five full seasons in the Majors. Hit well enough, play decent defense, and that’s a very useful player to have around.

Things … did not work out that way. The Verdugo experience was a disastrous one in the Bronx from more or less Opening Day: He slashed a measly .233/.291/.356 on the year, with just 13 homers over 149 games.

He was an everyday player basically by default, as the Yankees didn’t have anyone to replace him. But he quickly drew the ire of New York fans, who grew sick of his punchless offense and at-times lackadaisical approach to playing the outfield.

And it seems like the rest of the league did, as well; there’s a reason that Verdugo had to spend the spring begging teams to give him a chance, eventually settling for a Minor League deal with Atlanta.

Maybe he’s able to revert back to the player he was in 2022 or 2023.

More likely, though, he keeps on struggling the way he did when we last saw him — his .751 OPS and .207 average at Triple-A this season don’t exactly inspire confidence.

One thing’s for sure, though: No matter what he does at the plate, Verdugo will never lack for confidence, for better or worse.