On Monday, we took a look at 10 of the most impactful starts that came from the many, many hurlers that took the mound as part of the rotation for the Atlanta Braves in 2025. Naturally, it’s now time to look at 10 of the most impactful performances
from Atlanta Braves hitters over this past season. It’s only right, isn’t it?
Again, we’ll be using single-game WPA as our guiding metric here. Similar to the pitching list, a strong single-game WPA doesn’t guarantee a win — after all, there’s only so much a single player can do in such a team-centric sport as baseball. There also might be a little bit of overlap with the 10 biggest hits of the season as well, since of course those massive hits are pretty important for WPA as well. Still, there are enough differences here to make this worth talking about.
With that being said, I’ll give you a bit of a spoiler: Only one of these performances came in a losing effort. Try to guess it without scrolling down (I’ll know if you cheated. I have eyes everywhere. Even in that office. Yes, your office, even.). In all seriousness though, let’s get into this list, shall we?
No. 10 – Sean Murphy, July 12 at Cardinals (4 PA, 4 AB, 1 H (HR), 1 R, 3 RBI, 1 SO, .461 WPA)
This is one of a few instances on this list where one hit at a perfect time was enough to qualify a player for the list. That was the case for Sean Murphy, as this was the only time that he even reached base in this one. However, an eight-inning, three-run home run that shot Atlanta’s win expectancy from 21 percent to 73 percent in just one swing was enough to ensure that this was one of the biggest moments of this tough season for the Braves.
No. 9 – Michael Harris II, April 26 at Diamondbacks (5 PA, 4 AB, 2 H (1 1B, 1 2B), 1 BB, 1 SB, 2 RBI, .471 WPA)
This game will go down in baseball history and be remembered for a long time since this was the one where Eugenio Suárez cracked four dingers in a historic performance. What’ll likely be forgotten when it comes to this game is that the Diamondbacks actually lost. While Suárez was the clear MVP of this game with a whopping .739 WPA from this game, it was enough to get the win for Arizona. The main reason that the Braves were able to stick around and win is due to Michael Harris II delivering one of his best performances of the season. Atlanta ended up winning this one in extra innings — Money Mike’s two-out, eighth-inning double to center helped turn what was looking like a bitterly disappointing day at the ballpark into one where the Braves could at least come away from it saying that they won despite a historic performance from the other side.
No. 8 – Ozzie Albies, August 14 at Mets (4 PA, 4 AB, 3 H (1 1B, 1 2B, 1 HR), 3 RBI, 1 SO, .472 WPA)
Any time you can come one hit away from hitting for the cycle, you’ve had yourself a lovely day. That was the case for Ozzie Albies as he ended up delivering early-and-often for the Braves against their heated rivals from New York. Ozzie’s first at-bat in this one ended in a strikeout but that would be the last time the Mets would make him do the ol’ U-turn to the dugout in this game. His homer in the fourth put the Braves on the board, his sixth-inning RBI moved Atlanta into the lead and then his RBI double in the eighth inning (immediately after an RBI double from Michael Harris II) ended up putting the Braves ahead for good.
Ozzie even delivered in the field with his glove as well, as he made a huge diving stop in the sixth as well to keep the Braves within one run. This was a rough season for Ozzie but at least this was an undisputed bright spot.
No. 7 – Ha-Seong Kim, September 3 at Cubs (4 PA, 4 AB, 1 H (HR), 3 RBI, 1 SO, .478 WPA)
With all due respect to NL Gold Glove Finalist Nick Allen, the Braves badly needed consistent offense from the shortstop position after both Allen and Orlando Arcia combined to be anemic at the plate. Fortunately, teh Braves were able to take a chance by getting Ha-Seong Kim to play the final month of the season as Atlanta’s starting shortstop. This was another example of one hit being enough to make a massive impact but considering what position it came from, this was truly a sight for sore eyes for the Braves and us fans.
No. 6 – Drake Baldwin, August 19 vs. White Sox (5 PA, 4 AB, 1 H (1B), 1 BB 1 R, 3 RBI, 2 SO, .511 WPA)
This was one of two absolutely bonkers games that the Braves and White Sox played in the middle of August. Both pitching staffs got absolutely obliterated over the first two games of this series and this was definitely the wackier game of those two. Atlanta was down 10-4 heading into the seventh inning before the game turned in a hurry. Drake Baldwin took a bases-loaded walk in the seventh to bring Atlanta to within striking distance at just a four-run deficit and then the NL Rookie of the Year candidate eventually came around to score to make it a 10-9 game by the time the inning was over.
Baldwin did all that damage in the seventh inning without swinging a bat but he’d get another shot to swing it once the next inning rolled around and boy, did he take advantage of it or what? With two outs and the bases loaded again, Baldwin delivered with the bat this time as his RBI single plated two and vaulted Atlanta into the lead and an eventual shock of a comeback win. This is one of many moments that you could put on the Drake Baldwin highlight reel for his impressive rookie season. Also, Matt Olson deserves an honorable mention for this one as he racked up four hits for Atlanta and scored three runs.
No. 5 – Nacho Alvarez Jr., September 20 at Tigers (4 PA, 4 AB, 3 H (1 1B, 2 HR), 3 RBI, .521 WPA)
Plain-and-simple, this was the game of Nacho’s life. The video above contains Nacho’s first two home runs of not just 2025 but his entire big-league career. As of right now, they’re also the only two dingers of his career. Obviously we’d like to see him crack out some more bombs in the future but this is the type of performance that you can brag about for the rest of your life. He can especially brag about the fact his lone single of the game came in a huge moment in the ninth inning. Who knows what Nacho’s career will look like from here but at least he’ll always have that great day in Detroit to brag about for the rest of his life.
No. 4 – Marcell Ozuna, June 17 vs. Mets (4 PA, 2 H (1 1B, 1 2B), 3 RBI, .548 WPA)
Although Ozuna did pick up a leadoff single to start off what eventually turned into a scoreless fourth inning in this one for the Braves, the main reason why he’s up here on this list is because of what he did in the eighth inning of this one. With the bases loaded and two out while down three to the Mets, Atlanta’s win expectancy in this one was at a scant 13 percent. After Ozuna got done sending Truist Park into a frenzy with his bases-clearing double, the Braves suddenly had a 58 percent chance of winning in a tie ballgame. Atlanta ended up taking the win in extras and they wouldn’t have even gotten the chance if not for Ozuna coming up big in this situation.
No. 3 – Drake Baldwin, August 31 at Phillies (2 PA, 1 AB, 1 H (HR), 1 BB, 2 RBI, .569 WPA)
The Braves were absolutely desperate for any sort of offense in this tight pitchers’ duel once Drake Baldwin was subbed in as a pinch hitter in the eighth inning for Nick Allen. Baldwin took a walk following Vidal Bruján’s leadoff single in the eighth and he was on third as Bruján scored the game-tying run on a productive out. Baldwin’s next plate appearance saw him show up with two outs in the ninth inning with a man on base. One swing later, the Braves were in the lead with a 91 percent win expectancy at that point. Talk about an instant impact!
No. 2 – Michael Harris II, May 8 vs. Reds (5 PA, 5 AB, 3 H (2 1B, 1 3B), 2 RBI, 1 SO, .626 WPA)
Oh, if only we had gotten this version of Money Mike all season long instead of only consistently over the second half of the season. Still, Harris showed flashes of what he was capable of early on and this game was a prime example of it. Money Mike had two hits in this one that had him end up on third base at the end of the play — his go-ahead triple in the fifth that plated Eli White and then he used some heads-up base running to turn a game-tying single into a situation where he was on third base with one out as the potential walk-off run.
Drake Baldwin and Alex Verdugo were unable to bring him in order to make it a true Hollywood ending (and Harris even struck out in extras with a chance to walk it off, himself) but by that point, Harris had done more than enough in order to make sure that the Braves had a real shot at eventually winning this one.
No. 1 – Michael Harris II, July 26 at Rangers (4 PA, 4 AB, 4 H (1 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR), 2 RBI, .627 WPA)
Yep. The highest-rated single-game performance of the 2025 season from an Atlanta Braves player came from Michael Harris II in a loss. I suppose this was baseball karma for Harris playing such a big role in ensuring that the Diamondbacks lost the four-homer game from Eugenio Suárez. Anyways, this was still a fantastic performance at the plate from Money Mike and it also showed just how hot he was running in July as he loudly broke out of a slump that essentially tanked the first half of his season. Harris actually came a single away from completing the cycle — it’s not every day that you see a player miss out on a cycle because he couldn’t get the “easy” part done.
Harris got the triple to complete his four-hit night in the ninth inning and scored what would’ve been the game-winning run in a just world on a sacrifice fly. Instead, Raisel Iglesias was unable to lock things down against the Texas lineup in the bottom of the ninth and then Enyel De Los Santos gave up a walk-off single to the only hitter he actually faced in the tenth. This was a bittersweet performance but it would be a crime to forget the effort that Michael Harris II displayed in this game — especially considering how bad he looked for the vast majority of the season up until the couple of weeks surrounding this game.
That’ll do it for this list and in all honesty, that’s it for the lists. What did y’all think? Which moment was your favorite overall moment of the 2025 Braves season? Let us know!
