Did Jurickson Profar swindle the Atlanta Braves?

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, the Braves only notable offseason acquisition, Jurickson Profar, was popped for PED use. He’s been suspended for 80 games and won’t be eligible for the postseason.

To say it’s a major blow to Atlanta would be an understatement. In the short term, the club will now have to piece together an outfield made up of misfits and Michael Harris II until Ronald Acuna Jr. gets back to the lineup.

However, the long term may be even more terrifying. Jurickson Profar inked a three-year, $42 million free agent contract after earning All-Star honors for the first time in his career. If you’re like me and don’t believe in coincidences, it sure seems like the juice directly resulted in a career year for Profar.

If that much is true, then it’s entirely possible that he reverts to the underwhelming player he’s been for a decade. At this point, it’s too early to make sweeping statements, but it sure looks like Jurickson Profar swindled the Atlanta Braves.

In 2024, Profar accumulated more WAR than in any other season by a large margin. He belted more home runs than ever before, had an OPS north of .800 for the first time in his career, and generally set career marks in every statistical category possible.

Profar accrued 3.6 bWAR while slashing .280/.380/.459 with 24 bombs and a 135 OPS+ (35% higher than the league average). In the other nine seasons, he accumulated a TOTAL of 4.8 bWAR and slashed .238/.322/.383 with nine home runs per season on average and a 92 OPS+ (8% below league average).

It’s not a coincidence that he had by far his best season the year before getting caught with a PED that is used to mask steroids. We can’t draw definitive conclusions yet, but if Jurickson Profar returns and regresses back to that below-average player, we’ll know that he swindled the Atlanta Braves.