If Jurickson Profar keeps this up either everyone is going to forget-and-forgive his 80-game PED suspension earlier this season or everyone is going to have a highly perched eyebrow and start doing their best imitation of The Rock circa 2002.
Before getting back to Profar, it is worth a tip of the cap to rookie starting pitcher Hurston Waldrep who has been pitching lights out this month. With four-straight victories while allowing one run or less, he tied Fernando Valenzuela for the most by a rookie.
Also, don’t look now, but the Atlanta Braves may have found something in yet another former Colorado Rockies reliever, because Tyler Kinley has looked like a keeper since joining Atlanta, including during his appearances this week.
Lastly, Nacho Alvarez, Jr. is going to get the rest of the season to show that he can hold down a bench spot in 2026 due to Austin Riley’s season-ending surgery. Alvarez’s bat has showed more life in the last couple of weeks, including this past one, when he had seven hits including three doubles.
The Braves split the week by going three-and-three, but there was once constant throughout the week, and that was this week’s Battery Power Braves Player of the Week.
Battery Power Braves Player of the Week: Jurickson Profar
After being edged out by Michael Harris II last week, Jurickson Profar takes home this week’s Player of the Week award after a nine-hit week that included a double, three home runs, 13 RBI and two stolen bases.
When he ended Sunday’s game after going 2-for-4 with the game-winning hit, he raise his weekly triple-slash to .360/.448/.760. His 1.208 OPS was head-and-shoulders above the second-highest line-up regular (Alvarez). Profar even made a nice catch in left field.
Profar had two, three-hit games this week. Monday, he bopped two homers as part of his three hits against the Chicago White Sox. He drove in five runners and stole a base, to boot.
Then, on Friday night, he collected three base knocks against the New York Mets and added four RBI. He rounded out the week with with his third multi-hit game on Sunday, as noted above.
With a week to go in August, he already has 25 hits, seven home runs and has driven in 23 runners and scored 19 times out of the lead-off spot. He’s also walked 18 times against 14 strikeouts raising his slash line for the month to .298/.433/.607. He’s also swiped five bases in August.
Five more weeks of solid offense performance would be a boon for Profar and the Braves. When Atlanta added him as their big free agent addition, the team obviously expected a solid offensive contributor. How the PED suspension may impact the organization’s view on him beyond this season will be an interesting off-season story line.
