2024 Braves Season in Review: Brian Anderson

Anderson had the opportunity to secure a spot on a team plagued with injuries, but ended up struggling mightily at Gwinnett instead of anything else

Once an up-and-comer for the Marlins, Brian Anderson’s career stalled out in 2021, as injuries and ineffectiveness took him from a solid regular with upside to essentially unrosterable. The Braves decided to give him a shot, but his own injuries and some truly awful performance at Gwinnett meant he wasn’t the solution to their injury woes.

How acquired

Anderson was released by the Seattle Mariners back on June 1st after putting up just a 99 wRC+ for their Triple-A team. The Atlanta Braves took a gamble on the veteran as they sought answers in an injury-plagued season.

What were the expectations?

The general idea was that, given the Braves’ dire need for warm bodies, that Anderson could provide the depth at the corners. There were almost no expectations beyond that, as the Braves were desperate for bodies in both Gwinnett and Atlanta.

After amassing 7.3 fWAR in 1,419 PAs (3.1/600) from 2018-2020, a shoulder injury upended his 2021 season. He was then up and down in both 2022 and 2023, and managed just 0.5 fWAR in 744 PAs, though he had some xwOBA underperformance in both years. That’s how he ended up not even starting the season in the majors in 2024, and any reasonable expectation of his performance would probably have included “workmanlike bench guy” and not much more.

2024 Results

The Braves gave Anderson a pinch-hit appearance and a couple of starts in June, but then he got a bacterial infection which kept him out of action while rostered, and ultimately led to an Injured List stint. He was DFAed and outrighted after his rehab time was up, elected free agency, and then re-signed with the Braves and spent the rest of the year at Triple-A Gwinnett.

At the big league level, Anderson went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts, and hit into a double play in his pinch-hit appearance. Amusingly, though, all three of his balls in play were hard-hit, and one was a barrel — but none fell for hits: a hard grounder to short, a laser of a liner to short, and a hard lineout to left. As a result, Anderson had a .472 xwOBA in those five PAs, with nothing to show for it.

That said, he didn’t do anything interesting in a much larger sample in Gwinnett, with a pathetic 56 wRC+ in 171 PAs.

What went right?

Bacterial infection aside, Anderson stayed sorta healthy, appearing in 87 games. His defensive versatility helped him the most as he played several different positions, including a solid right field where he would do this:

At least he got his money’s worth in those five major league PAs given his quality of contact.

What went wrong?

Unfortunately for Brian, pretty much everything other than being able to stay on the field for about half the length of the season. The .472 wOBA-xwOBA gap, in five PAs, is as rough as it gets. It’s gotta be one of the worst ways to accumulate a -100 wRC+ and -0.1 fWAR.

But, even worse was his faceplant in the International League after faring okay enough in the Pacific Coast League to get a look from the Braves. Even his three homers for Gwinnett all came in the span of a week of play, including this bomb:

Here’s him hitting a bullet on 0-2 that is hit too close to a fielder to make an impact:

2025 Outlook

Anderson elected minor league free agency heading into the 2025 season. It’s possible he could return to the Braves as a flier, but given his misery at Gwinnett, a change of scenery might be in order. He’ll probably look to latch on somewhere that lets him try and rebuild some value with an easier path to the majors. At 31 years old, he’s got a bit of time to recapture the promise of his mid-20s, but given his abysmal performance in 2024, no one is going to be expecting anything from him.