Braves reportedly release $10M veteran World Series champion amid strong start to season originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Atlanta Braves are off to a hot start in the 2026 season and don’t seem to be slowing down. The NL East is currently under complete control by Atlanta. On Thursday, starter JR Ritchie made his MLB debut for the Braves.

“It landed on another call-up, but this time for a debut. The Braves are promoting 2022 first-round pick JR Ritchie (35th overall pick) to make his first major league appearance as Atlanta looks to win its fifth straight series Thursday afternoon at Nationals Park,” Battery Power’s Curt Weiler wrote.

Before the season started, Atlanta knew that Sean Murphy would miss part of the regular season due to injury. Because of that, they decided to sign Sandy Leon back as a depth piece.

“The Atlanta Braves bring veteran catching depth back into the system. According to his transaction page, Sandy León is back on a minor league deal. He has been assigned to Triple-A Gwinnett, where he spent nearly all of the last two seasons,” SI’s Harrison Smajovits wrote.

The Braves haven’t been dealing with those injuries and also signed World Series-winning catcher Jonah Heim before the start of the season. This made it difficult for Leon to make the roster out of camp. On Thursday, the Braves made the decision to grant Leon his request for a release.