Well, the Atlanta Braves at least survived their weekend series against the Dodgers. It was honestly a really good series with the first and third games being incredibly close and hard fought. Saturday was a bit of a dumpster fire as there was a lengthy rain delay followed by the Braves getting beat up, but there were plenty of positives to take away from the series even it was a loss overall.
Arguably more importantly, Atlanta emerged from the weekend unscathed when it comes to more injuries which is more than they can say for swaths of this season and 2024. Here are the latest goings on with the Braves at the start of the week.
Braves News: Atlanta signs Austin Cox for some added bullpen depth
Unlike previous seasons, the Braves’ bullpen has been a bit of a sore spot this season. A big part of that is that Raisel Iglesias has not pitched well until Sunday, but it is very clear that the Braves’ relief corps isn’t nearly as good or deep in 2025 with the departure of AJ Minter and Joe Jimenez on the IL.
While signing Austin Cox isn’t likely to move the needle a lot, he does at least give the Braves another option to play around with in the middle innings. His big league tenure with the Royals doesn’t exactly scream “give me a big league contract”, but he does generally miss bats and posted a 3.55 ERA at Triple-A this year before he was released.
Braves News: Eli White’s Cinderella run likely to come to an end soon
Say what you want to, but Eli White emerging almost out of nowhere has been one of the more fun stories concerning the Braves this season. He came into camp and played his brains out, sat around on the bench for most of the start of the season, and then came in and showed out when given an opportunity. You truly love to see it.
Unfortunately, even White knows that this newfound surge in playing time isn’t going to last. He did get a bit of a reprieve due to Ronald Acuna Jr.’s rehab going slower than hoped, but Acuna Jr. will be back in the lineup by the end of May or early June. Between that and Jurickson Profar returning from his suspension for the second half, it is hard to see a world where White plays much beyond the next few weeks.
Braves News: Atlanta’s upcoming schedule is a nice reprieve with one exception
So the bad news is that the Braves are in the middle of a 17 game stretch without a day off which is pretty brutal. The good news, however, is that it is one of the softer spots on Atlanta’s schedule with the notable exception of last weekend’s Dodgers series.
After hosting the Reds for four games this week, Atlanta travels to the hapless Pirates this coming weekend followed by series against the Nationals and Red Sox. All of these teams can beat the Braves to be sure, but it is nice to not have any truly elite teams on the docket the next couple of weeks.
