Today was an important day on the baseball offseason calendar, as 6:00 p.m. ET today marked the deadline for teams to add players to their 40-man roster in order to protect them from selection in the upcoming Rule 5 Draft. Plenty of teams got busy with making moves and additions to their 40-man roster but one team that didn’t was the Atlanta Braves. The deadline came and went and Atlanta’s 40-man roster was unchanged.
There are a couple of names off the top of my head that come to mind here. One is Ian Mejia, who MLB.com named as Atlanta’s “toughest Rule 5 decision” ahead of today’s deadline. Here’s part of what they had to say about the young hurler:
…He’s coming off a very good year, spent almost entirely with Double-A Mississippi, in which he finished third in the Southern League in ERA (2.62) and WHIP (1.06). He’s also topped 120 innings in each of his three seasons, but he doesn’t miss a ton of bats and throws his slider more than his fringy fastball, giving him a lower ceiling.
The next name in my opinion is Blake Burkhalter, who is coming off of a very productive 2025 season on the farm. Burkhalter recorded an ERA of 3.32 alongside a FIP of 3.53 across 103 innings pitched and 32 appearances in the minors this past season. He spent the bulk of his time with Double-A Columbus, which is where he posted a 3.13 ERA and 2.98 FIP over 14 starts and 72 innings. Once he made the jump to Triple-A Gwinnett, he was utilized more as a reliever (and even picked up a save) but things did get a little bit tougher for him as he recored a 3.77 ERA and a 4.82 FIP across 31 innings with the Stripers.
Still, getting 100 innings under his belt with production like that was pretty impressive and it was understandable to think that the Braves could’ve decided to protect him (and Mejia as well). Instead, they’l now be rolling the dice with either one of those players potentially getting taken in the upcoming Rule 5 Draft. There’s always a possibility that if selected, they could come back eventually if the team that selects them decides that they’re not keen on keeping them on their active roster but that’s something that’ll be decided in the future.
For now, the Braves ensured that this particular deadline was a quiet one for them and now they’ll continue on with their offseason business with their 40-man roster remaining unchanged for the time being.
