While most experts and fans expected the Atlanta Braves to sell off at the trade deadline, Alex Anthopoulos and the front office went in another direction, holding onto impending free agents Marcell Ozuna and Raisel Iglesias, while also acquiring Tyler Kinley from the Colorado Rockies.

At the time, it was clear the Braves saw Kinley as a piece for the 2026 bullpen, but seven games into his tenture with the Atlanta Braves, it’s clear the righty reliever is already paying dividens.

Tyler Kinley is already proving to be a valuable acquisition for the Braves

Kinley’s 5.66 ERA with the Rockies was far from impressive, but a quick look into his underlying numbers made it clear what the Braves were aiming to do.

While the righty had poor walk numbers, he had done a great job limiting hard contact and getting whiffs and chases. At the time, Kinley was already using his slider at a high rate to great success, but the Braves wanted to up that usage even more.

Since joining the Braves, the 34-year-old has increased his slider usage from 60.1% of the time with the Rockies to 77.2% with the Braves. With the Braves, he hasn’t allowed a hit off of his slider.

In his seven appearances, Kinley has struck out 24.1% of the batters he’s faced, which is a marginal increase from his 23.8% K-rate with the Rockies, while also nearly completely eliminating flyballs, from 32.1% to 5.9%. This is partially why the new Braves reliever hasn’t allowed an extra base hit.

It is a short sample, but Kinley has a 1.42 ERA with Atlanta in 6.1 innings. If there was one red flag, it would be the uptick in the former Rockies’ walk-rate, which has increased from 12.6% to 17.2%. Kinley has walked batters in four of his seven outings with the Braves.

If Kinley is able to get his walk-rate back down to where it was with Colorado, however, this under-the-radar acquisition will be a massive steal for Atlanta, especially with the Braves having a cheap $5 million option on Kinley for next season.