As frustrating as the Atlanta Braves have been this season, there are plenty of players that deserve more patience than they are getting right now.
Chris Sale won a Cy Young last year, Matt Olson and Austin Riley have been among the game’s most feared hitters the last few years, and Raisel Iglesias has been the pillar of consistency closing games for two seasons now. However, other players deserve all the ire they are getting right now if not more.
In some cases, these Braves have seen their struggles from last year carry over to 2025. Others have been skating on thin ice for a while and have finally regressed. Whatever the case may be, here are the Braves that are no longer worth defending assuming they have defenders left to begin with.
Here are some of the Braves players that are no longer worth defending
Jarred Kelenic
Look, fans wanted the Braves to be the team to unlock Kelenic’s potential when that trade happened and there is a lot to like from a talent perspective. He has the tools to be a successful hitter in the big leagues and it is nice that Kelenic has learned to draw walks in 2025.
That said, the guy is hitting .146 this season after posting yet another below average year at the plate in 2024. The walks are nice, but that is pretty much the only positive and Kelenic’s increased walk rate has been accompanied by an even larger increase in his strikeout rate to an unsustainable 37%. With the Braves calling up Verdugo, it is hard to envision a scenario where Kelenic gets playing time for a while unless there is an injury or a guy needs a day off.
Orlando Arcia
Orlando Arcia has been a popular punching bag for Braves fans for a while. That is going to happen when a guy craters like Arcia did last year when he posted a 72 wRC+ as Atlanta’s starting shortstop. There were calls from far and wide to replace him, but all the Braves managed to do was add Nick Allen to mixed reviews and results.
While Allen isn’t exciting, he is still a better option than Arcia at this point. In eight games this season, Arcia is slashing .222/.250/.259 which adds up to a dreadful 44 wRC+. Allen may not be the answer, but it is abundantly clear that Arcia isn’t the Braves’ guy, either.
Bryce Elder
Okay, this is an easy one and you will honestly struggle to find many people who were defending Elder in the first place in 2025. Elder had a nice run in the first half of 2023 in route to an All-Star appearance, but the results since then have shown him to be a guy that can’t miss bats enough and with stuff that will get hard by big league hitters.
There was hope that the Braves wouldn’t have to lean on him anymore this year, but unfortunately Reynaldo Lopez needed shoulder surgery and Atlanta had to bring him back up. Even when Elder is good, he is still too much of an adventure to trust on a regular basis. One hopes that the Braves find a better solution soon, because Elder needs to not be an option much longer.
