Braves' best newcomer is $1.25M slugger after .962 OPS start to 2026

Braves' best newcomer is $1.25M slugger after .962 OPS start to 2026 originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

This past offseason, the Atlanta Braves made a few interesting additions to the roster. While the Ha-Seong Kim injury ordeal soured a bit of the feelings of the offseason, the new faces that joined the team have played very well.

Robert Suarez is dominant, while Mauricio Dubon has been incredible as the temporary shortstop. Along with Mike Yastrezemski, one of those three Braves pickups seemingly would've been the best of the offseason.

However, as Tim Britton of The Athletic highlighted, the Braves' best offseason addition was none of those three. Instead, it was a $1.25 million and .962 OPS slugger, Dominic Smith.

Braves' best newcomer is $1.25M signing Dominic Smith

"Best newcomer: Dominic Smith," Britton writes. "On his sixth team in the last five years, Smith hit a walk-off grand slam in his first game with Atlanta and hasn't slowed down since."

With Jurison Profar and Sean Murphy both out for some time, the Braves have needed some of their other players to become more of an offensive threat.

Smith has become just that, as he's dominating so far this season. His slash line is ridiculous .345/.362/.600, good for a .962 OPS on the season so far.