{"id":115926,"date":"2026-03-19T15:34:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T19:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=115926"},"modified":"2026-03-19T15:34:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T19:34:20","slug":"atlanta-braves-jurickson-profar-will-miss-all-of-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/03\/19\/atlanta-braves-jurickson-profar-will-miss-all-of-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Atlanta Braves DH Jurickson Profar will miss all of 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">The Atlanta Braves will be without outfielder <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2026\/03\/08\/three-options-for-left-field-for-the-atlanta-braves\/\" target=\"_self\"><span class=\"s2\">Jurickson Profar<\/span><\/a> for the 2026 season after getting his PED suspension resolved. Profar has already served a suspension for PED use last season after signing a <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.spotrac.com\/mlb\/player\/_\/id\/11471\/jurickson-profar\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">three-year ($45 million)<\/a> contract in January 2025. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">According to Spotrac on X, Profar will forfeit $15 million of his salary for 2026, and previously lost $5.1 million for last year&#8217;s suspension. The 2024 All-Star played in 80 games last season and batted .245 with a .787 OPS.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Profar wil forfeit his $15M salary for the upcoming season, after losing over $5.1M from his 80-game suspension in 2025. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/QXNBdGk630\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/QXNBdGk630<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Spotrac (@spotrac) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/spotrac\/status\/2034666574691402160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 19, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Profar is likely never to play another game with the Braves, as a potential work stoppage looms for 2027. MLB\u2019s and MLPA\u2019s CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) expires on December 1, 2026. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"s3\">Jurickson Profar officially getting suspended is a gain for players trying to make the Braves<\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"max-width: px\"><smartframe-embed class=\"smartframe_wp_element\" customer-id=\"b0c95bc04383cef69c6b47df872135cf\" image-id=\"WmOBfZYtatzJ\" style=\"width: 100%; display: inline-flex; max-width: 3600px; aspect-ratio: 3600\/2570;\" ><\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Profar\u2019s suspension is another player&#8217;s gain, as the designated hitter&#8217;s spot is up for grabs. First baseman\/outfielder Dominic Smith \u2014 a non-roster invite to camp \u2014 has emerged as a leading candidate to step in. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">In 10 games this spring, the 30-year-old has batted .286 with an OPS of .804. Smith also has a home run, four RBI, three walks, and eight hits in 28 at-bats. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Outfielder <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/w\/whiteel04.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Eli White<\/a> has also emerged as an option to platoon with Smith. In 11 games, White has hit .414 with a 1.054 OPS and has a home run and four RBI. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">White would offer versatility for the Braves, as he played in leftfield (36 games), centerfield (six games, and first base (four games) last season. In left field, White had a value of 13 defensive runs saved. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Outfielder <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/y\/yastrmi01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike Yastrzemski<\/a> will be the starting leftfielder for the Braves and will see some time at DH. The 35-year-old signed a two-year ($23 million) contract this offseason, with a club option ($7 million) for 2028.<\/p>\n<p>All-Star rightfielder <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/a\/acunaro01.shtml\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ronald Acuna Jr.<\/a> would also benefit from being the designated hitter this season after having two ACL injuries.<\/p>\n<p><span>Opening Day is a week away \u2014 March 27 against the Kansas City Royals. With limited time left to decide on who will be the designated hitter, the Braves have options.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em><strong>(Top Image Credit: Jonathan Dyer-Imagn Images)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Atlanta Braves will be without outfielder Jurickson Profar for the 2026 season after getting his PED suspension resolved. Profar has already served a suspension for PED use last season after signing a three-year ($45 million) contract in January 2025. According to Spotrac on X, Profar will forfeit $15 million of his salary for 2026, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5794,"featured_media":115945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,2,1071,35],"tags":[48,1138],"class_list":["post-115926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-braves","category-featured","category-mlb","category-news","tag-atlanta-braves","tag-jurickson-profar"],"modified_by":"Matthew Nethercott, Site Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5794"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115926"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115946,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115926\/revisions\/115946"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}