{"id":37483,"date":"2025-02-28T06:29:44","date_gmt":"2025-02-28T06:29:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483"},"modified":"2025-02-28T06:29:44","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T06:29:44","slug":"breaking-ronald-acuna-jr-s-42-million-braves-replacement-making-waves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Ronald Acuna Jr.&#8217;s $42 million Braves replacement making waves"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"flex w-full max-w-[980px] flex-col px-4 pt-4 font-secondary lg:px-0\">\n<p class=\"dek prose mb-2.5 italic text-secondary\">The Braves&#8217; free agency move is already paying off.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex w-full max-w-[980px] flex-row gap-5\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-col lg:max-w-[660px]\">\n<div class=\"px-4 pb-5 lg:px-0\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-wrap justify-between gap-4  font-secondary md:items-center \">\n<div class=\"flex-row flex-wrap items-center text-primary\">\n<div class=\"author-link mr-2.5 flex items-center text-sm md:text-nowrap \"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wp.clutchpoints.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Ronald-Acuna-Jr.s-42-million-replacement-already-making-waves-at-spring-training.jpg?w=1200\" alt=\"Jurickson Profar, Braves, spring training, Padres, Ronald Acuna\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Atlanta Braves are currently gearing up for the upcoming 2025 MLB season by participating in Spring Training. The 2025 campaign will be filled with expectations for the Braves, who are coming off of an injury-riddled 2024 season that saw them lose in the NLDS to the San Diego Padres.<\/p>\n<p>The biggest move of the offseason for Atlanta was signing former Padres All-Star Jurickson Profar to a three-year contract. With Ronald Acuna out of the lineup for at least the opening portion of the season due to an ACL tear, Profar has been leading off for the Braves so far in spring training, a trend which figures to continue into the regular season.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things that make [Profar] a dangerous hitter, his ability to hit from both sides and his intelligence at the plate\u201d starting pitcher Reynaldo L\u00f3pez said, per Mark Bowman of MLB.com. \u201cWhenever I had to face him, I felt like I always went in with a little more caution and a little more prepared. Thankfully, I don\u2019t have to worry about that this year.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Manager Brian Snitker then spoke on the rationale for inserting Profar into the leadoff spot.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cWe kind of had a makeshift-type thing with [the leadoff spot],\u201d Snitker said. \u201cIt\u2019s hard when you lose probably the best [leadoff hitter] in the game. But [Profar\u2019s] versatility, especially being a switch-hitter, I love that. He\u2019s had success [leading off], too. So, he knows what it\u2019s all about.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Can the Braves contend in 2025?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3271740\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3271740\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/wp.clutchpoints.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Profar-at-Media-Day.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/wp.clutchpoints.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Profar-at-Media-Day.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/wp.clutchpoints.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Profar-at-Media-Day.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/wp.clutchpoints.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Profar-at-Media-Day.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/wp.clutchpoints.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Profar-at-Media-Day.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/wp.clutchpoints.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Profar-at-Media-Day.jpg?resize=150,100 150w\" alt=\"Ronald Acuna Jr.'s $42 Million Braves Replacement Already Making Waves At Spring Training\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3271740\">Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Entering the 2025 season, the Braves figure to be on the short list of teams who feel they have a legitimate chance to compete for a World Series championship.<\/p>\n<p>The bad news for Atlanta is that the majority of the other teams on that list also reside in the NL, with two of them\u2013the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets\u2013being fellow members of the NL East, a division that the Braves did not win last year for the first time since 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Still, while the team waits for Acuna&#8217;s return, it seems that Profar will have the leadoff position in steady hands.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Atlanta Braves free agent signee Jurickson Profar has been dominant out of the leadoff spot at spring training.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":37484,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[71,868,44,740],"class_list":["post-37483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-jurickson-profar","tag-mlb","tag-ronald-acuna-jr"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING: Ronald Acuna Jr.&#039;s $42 million Braves replacement making waves - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Ronald Acuna Jr.&#039;s $42 million Braves replacement making waves - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Atlanta Braves free agent signee Jurickson Profar has been dominant out of the leadoff spot at spring training.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-28T06:29:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-1-13.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"MsNga\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"MsNga\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483\",\"name\":\"BREAKING: Ronald Acuna Jr.'s $42 million Braves replacement making waves - NEWS USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-1-13.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-28T06:29:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-28T06:29:44+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7d8919f80fe19b5d17fd5541862a7b37\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-1-13.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-1-13.jpg\",\"width\":1300,\"height\":1600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BREAKING: Ronald Acuna Jr.&#8217;s $42 million Braves replacement making waves\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/\",\"name\":\"NEWS USA\",\"description\":\"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7d8919f80fe19b5d17fd5541862a7b37\",\"name\":\"MsNga\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddc5cc36b52e56e3c9aa09d60c7293d0b8a7d5eb4bfe93f637ffa8cb25ea8ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddc5cc36b52e56e3c9aa09d60c7293d0b8a7d5eb4bfe93f637ffa8cb25ea8ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"MsNga\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=5\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BREAKING: Ronald Acuna Jr.'s $42 million Braves replacement making waves - NEWS USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BREAKING: Ronald Acuna Jr.'s $42 million Braves replacement making waves - NEWS USA","og_description":"Atlanta Braves free agent signee Jurickson Profar has been dominant out of the leadoff spot at spring training.","og_url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483","og_site_name":"NEWS USA","article_published_time":"2025-02-28T06:29:44+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1300,"height":1600,"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-1-13.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"MsNga","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"MsNga","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483","name":"BREAKING: Ronald Acuna Jr.'s $42 million Braves replacement making waves - NEWS USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-1-13.jpg","datePublished":"2025-02-28T06:29:44+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-28T06:29:44+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7d8919f80fe19b5d17fd5541862a7b37"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-1-13.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/PICTURE-1300-x-1500-px-1-13.jpg","width":1300,"height":1600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=37483#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BREAKING: Ronald Acuna Jr.&#8217;s $42 million Braves replacement making waves"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/","name":"NEWS USA","description":"Your Daily Dose of Sports News and Updates","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7d8919f80fe19b5d17fd5541862a7b37","name":"MsNga","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddc5cc36b52e56e3c9aa09d60c7293d0b8a7d5eb4bfe93f637ffa8cb25ea8ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ddc5cc36b52e56e3c9aa09d60c7293d0b8a7d5eb4bfe93f637ffa8cb25ea8ac7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"MsNga"},"url":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?author=5"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37483","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37483"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37485,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37483\/revisions\/37485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37484"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}