Well, at least you can file this one under “it shouldn’t theoretically affect the Braves in 2026, I guess,” if it makes you feel any better:
This does seem more like a holdover from 2025’s injury woes than a continuation into 2026, but it is what it is. The notable thing
here is that once again, per Mark Bowman’s reporting, that another Braves player felt a twinge (or more) of something, but played through it — in a lost season, no less. Sure, you can say that Jurickson Profar was already out of action for the whole season and didn’t want to bail on his teammates further with the offseason coming up so soon, but a version of that logic is part of the problem when it comes to the Braves and injuries as it is.
Profar posted a .294 xwOBA in September after a .396 xwOBA in August. It’s tempting to say that at least part of his dropoff was something related to the aforementioned discomfort, but he also had a .291 xwOBA in July, so… who knows. I guess you could ascribe the July struggles to getting back up to speed after a suspension, and then September to the hey-I-have-a-hernia, but now you’ve got a whole assumption stew going and I mostly just want french fries and a candy bar.
Anyway, this shouldn’t affect Profar in 2026 (even though, if you’ve been following along, of course it will). He’s still penciled in to be a primary starter, though may DH a lot given the presence of Mike Yastrzemski and Profar’s ineptitude in the field. Maybe that makes the had-a-hernia-that-required-surgery situation a bit better.
