Major League Baseball’s July 30 trade deadline saw the Atlanta Braves trade for Jorge Soler from the San Francisco Giants in what will be his second career stint in a Braves uniform.
With a glaring need to add to a lineup full of struggling bats, general manager Alex Anthopoulos is banking on Soler’s return to Atlanta to be the spark that lights the Braves’ bats on fire heading into the final months of the season. In what was the Braves lone move of the deadline, they acquired outfielder Soler and right handed relief pitcher Luke Jackson from the San Francisco Giants in exchange for left handed relief pitcher Tyler Matzek and third base prospect Sabin Ceballos.
In the trade, the Braves also received Luke Jackson, who was a member of the 2021 World Series championship team alongside Soler. While not the trade’s main attraction, the Braves will hope to get meaningful innings out of Jackson just like they did in 2021. The most impactful of Jackson’s appearances for the Braves came in that season’s World Series against the Houston Astros when he threw 3.2 scoreless innings across three games.
The addition of Soler didn’t come without a price, however. That price for the Braves came in the form of fan favorite relief pitcher Matzek. While Matzek has had very limited action on the mound this season, his name will forever be etched in Braves postseason history. In the Braves championship run, Matzek was a member of the Night Shift, a nickname given to the Braves bullpen members who came into late-game situations. This exclusive club included Matzek, Jackson, setup man A.J. Minter and closer Will Smith. In 13 postseason games and 15.2 innings pitched, Matzek was lights out, only allowing three earned runs. Since then, however, Matzek has been met with horrible injury luck. He played in 42 games in the 2022 season before undergoing Tommy John surgery, causing him to miss the rest of the season as well as the 2023 season. In his brief return this season, Matzek put up a 9.90 ERA in 11 games and 10 innings pitched before being placed on the injured list with elbow inflammation.
The Braves also parted with prospect Sabin Ceballos, a 21-year-old third-baseman prospect who has spent this season as part of the Rome Emperors, the Braves’ High-A affiliate minor league team. Ceballos was selected by the Braves in the third-round of the 2023 MLB draft from the University of Oregon and has produced well in High-A ball this season. In 344 at-bats, Ceballos has produced a .262 batting average with five home runs, 36 runs batted in and nine stolen bases. Ceballos’s inclusion in the trade gives the Giants some more upside in their farm system with a prospect that is expected to be a solid hitter with speed.
This deadline was not the overwhelming affair that the 2021 season gave fans, but the Braves are in a different spot this season. Before being able to call themselves World Series champions, the 2021 Braves had a 51-52 record at the trade deadline. They were four games back for the National League East division lead and eight games back from a wild card spot in the playoffs. They had a small chance of making the playoffs but found themselves winning their division and adorning their fingers with World Series rings by season’s end.
Soler has already shown glimpses of his past postseason heroics in his short time back with the team, putting up four homeruns and 13 runs batted in 13 games into his return to Atlanta. Soler left last Wednesday’s contest against his former team in the fourth inning after suffering a mild hamstring strain while running to first base, but Braves manager Brian Snitker has indicated that the injury is “day to day”.
