Braves Must Target These Three Pitchers For 2026

The Atlanta Braves can pretty much consider this 2025 season a lost cause. The Braves are way below .500, and there is a real possibility that they could finish last in the NL East with their current form. There is still a lot of season left, but with their entire Opening Day starting rotation on the injured list, it’s getting increasingly difficult to imagine how Atlanta can make something positive out of this campaign.

With that said, General Manager Alex Anthopoulos must do what every Braves fan already has; turn his attention to 2026, when Atlanta might be healthier and their stars might remember how to hit. Fans are already dreaming of a full season of Ronald Acuña Jr. at 100 percent, or a full offseason for Chris Sale and Spencer Strider to get right.

If there’s a priority for Atlanta this upcoming offseason, it’s adding depth to the rotation. Sale and Strider are still one of the best one-two punches in MLB, plus Spencer Schwellenbach has shown signs that he could be just as good as those guys. However, health has decimated the Braves’ rotation for two years in a row now. Nobody knows what Reynaldo López has left in the tank. Schwellenbach, AJ Smith-Shawver, and Grant Holmes will all be recovering from various elbow surgeries. The Braves need some firepower on the mound and here are a few potential targets for 2026.

Braves Must Target These Three Pitchers in 2026

Ranger Suárez

If not for a back injury that held him out for the early portion of this season, Ranger Suárez might be locked in a Cy Young race with his teammates Zack Wheeler and Cristopher Sánchez. Suárez has a 2.59 ERA and 1.17 WHIP through 15 starts, with 90 strikeouts in 93.2 innings. The lefty sinkerballer has become famous for his poise under pressure. He feels like an affordable target for the Braves.

However, Suárez has made it clear he wants to re-sign with the Philadelphia Phillies. This does make it unlikely that Atlanta could lure him to the southeast, but pulling it off would make it all the sweeter for Braves fans. Suárez won’t rack up strikeouts, but he forces groundballs and soft contact while exerting tremendous command of his pitch locations. He works the bottom of the zone as well as anyone in baseball and is seldom rattled. As a bonus, Suárez is one of the more impressive fielders at his position.

Suárez was an All-Star in 2024 and he should’ve been one in 2025 as well. The Phillies may be on their way to transitioning into a younger pitching staff, with Andrew Painter and other prospects on the MLB fast track. This could open the door for the Braves to pursue the nearly 30-year-old pitcher. It’s no secret Atlanta went after Aaron Nola not too long ago and missed out, so maybe this pushes the Braves to be a little more aggressive this time around.

Framber Valdez

After years of trade rumors, Framber Valdez is finally slated to hit free agency this winter. It feels like it would be a big mistake for the Houston Astros to let the southpaw walk, but there are a lot of mouths to feed when their rotation is at full strength. The 31-year-old should command a significant payday, but the Braves have already invested a lot in Sale, another lefty. However, Valdez should still be considered, as he has three straight top-10 finishes in Cy Young voting under his belt and is on his way to making it four. It’s hard to find a more consistently dominant pitcher in MLB.

Valdez is on track for four 28-plus start campaigns in a row and it’s time for Atlanta to target guys that have a history of staying healthy. He has a career-best 2.62 ERA and 1.11 WHIP. While he isn’t an elite swing-and-miss pitcher, Valdez can get strikeouts while also pitching extremely well to contact. His groundball rate sits in the 98th percentile thanks to a dynamic sinker-curveball combo. He can still dial up the velocity into the mid-90s and he has three knockout pitches under his belt when factoring in his evasive changeup.

Realistically, Valdez is probably the best pitcher on the market this coming winter, so he will likely be out of Atlanta’s price range when considering how they usually do business. With that said, the Braves are in a dire spot, and the best way out might just be breaking tradition and spending big in free agency.

Zac Gallen

Arizona Diamondbacks ace Zac Gallen is probably going to get traded before this year’s trade deadline. It has been a rough season for the 29-year-old former All-Star who finished top-five in Cy Young voting in 2022 and 2023. Gallen at his best can be compared to some of the very best pitchers in MLB, but it’s becoming more difficult to believe that he will reach his peak again. He currently has a 5.60 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP through 22 starts. With it being a contract year, Gallen has all the motivation to perform, but it’s just not happening.

However, Gallen is still in his prime and durability has long been a forte. The Braves need arms with the ability to pitch deep into games and deep into seasons. If Gallen could regain his form, suddenly the Braves would have a third ace in the rotation. It’s a tantalizing proposition.

The hope would be that this down season keeps his price within range for Atlanta. Anthopoulos has never been the kind of GM to throw tons of money at free agent pitchers, but as previously mentioned, he did make a competitive run at Nola, so there’s at least some precedent for going into free agency with designs on adding an established arm.