9:30am: The Braves have officially announced the signing of Urshela. Riley was placed on the 10-day IL to make room on the active roster, while left AJ Minter – who recently had season-ending hip surgery – was moved to the 60-day IL to clear a 40-man roster spot.
8:20am: The Braves and Urhela have agreed to a deal, Jon Heyman of the New York Post tweeted.
7:50am: The Braves are closing in on a major league deal with a third baseman Gio Urselaaccording to a report from Joel Sherman of the New York Post this morning. Urshela was recently designated for assignment and released by the Tigers, who will be at risk for the remainder of his $1.5MM salary. The Braves will only owe Urhela the league-limited amount for the time he spends on the big league roster or the injured list. Urhela is a client of Rep 1 Baseball.
The news comes just one day after the Braves third baseman Austin Riley he was diagnosed with a broken hand which is expected to keep him out for six to eight weeks. If that timeline holds, it will sideline him for at least the remainder of the regular season and the early parts of the postseason, though he could likely return to the field if Atlanta makes a strong enough run in the playoffs.
With utilityman Whit Merrifield already covering the wounded Ozzie Albies at second base, that seems to have left the club to rely on elite players Nacho Alvarez Jr. and a deep infielder Luke Williams handling the hot corner down the stretch. With Urhela stuck, the club will add a third veteran player who could increase their production at the position in Riley’s absence.
For Urhela, the deal represents a chance to get regular at-bats with a playoff contender on the way as he tries to re-establish himself as a regular option following a disappointing season in Detroit this year. After a 2023 season in which he was limited to just 62 games with a season-ending pelvic fracture, Urhela hit free agency and signed a one-year deal worth just $1.5MM with the Tigers in February. At the time, it seemed like a trade for a player who had been steady at third base for several years. It turned sour, though, as Urhela pitched his worst season since becoming a regular with the Yankees in 2019.
The 32-year-old hit just .243/.286/.333 (73 wRC+) in 325 plate trips with the Tigers while splitting time between the infield corners. Defensive metrics are more mixed on Urhela’s defense at third base, as the veteran has racked up -17 Outs Above Average at the position since returning every season in 2019. As wild as that number may seem, Defensive Runs Saved actually has Urshela as the quarterback. hot corner at that time which is like +4 in total. Still, even the best views of Urhela’s defense leave it hard to justify him as an everyday option if his hitting numbers stay there in Detroit.
Fortunately, there are some reasons to be optimistic about the veteran’s future. His record over the past half-decade speaks for itself, as he enters the 2024 season as a solid .291/.335/.452 (115 wRC+) hitter since breaking out in 2019 with New York. That’s the 16th best number among all professional under-threes in that span. Furthermore, Urhela’s .271 BABIP is the lowest of his career; entered the 2024 season with a career .319 BABIP that had jumped to .334 since his breakout 2019.
A return to form this time around could help Urhela put up numbers close to the league average offensively. His batted ball data also suggests that he is on a positive regression line. The 32-year-old’s wOBA is a stark contrast to his .305 xwOBA, a number (while still below average) that would put him roughly in line with his 2021 and 2023 seasons, when his offensive output was nearly 3. % and 8% worse than league average (by wRC+). Even that level of production would make Urhela a perfect fit for Atlanta’s hot corner, especially if the club doesn’t want to push Alvarez into a big everyday role in the middle of the pennant race at just 21 years old.
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