Left-hander A.J. Minter is now a year away from free agency but he tells Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he hasn’t heard from the Braves about an extension, though the Excel Sports Management client would like to stay.
“No,” Minter said. “I mean, obviously, who wouldn’t want to play in Atlanta? Atlanta, in my opinion, right now it’s the best organization in baseball. Obviously, I would love to stay in Atlanta. Who wouldn’t? But yeah, that’s something that’s kind of out of my control at the moment. Obviously, you’ve gotta come in here and treat it like it’s my last day. I’m gonna come in here and do everything I can for this organization, and pitch to the best of my ability and go out there and try to win a World Series. I’m going to put it into the organization’s hands (in terms of) what they want to do. Just got to go out there and show them what I’m made of.”
Minter, 30, has somewhat quietly been a very effective reliever over the past four years. He’s tossed 208 2/3 innings in that time with a 2.89 ERA. He has struck out 30.7% of batters faced while walking just 7.8% of them. He’s also kept 40.3% of balls in play on the ground. He’s done that while moving into high-leverage spots, having earned 15 saves and 83 holds in that time. He’s also been a key part of the club in the postseason, throwing 12 playoff innings during their 2021 title run. Raisel Iglesias is the club’s closer but Minter projects as the top lefty, with Tyler Matzek and Aaron Bummer also in the mix.
Atlanta hasn’t been terribly shy about spending on relief pitching recently. As shown on MLBTR’s Contract Tracker, since Alex Anthopoulos was hired in November of 2017 to lead the baseball operations department, the club has given eight-figure deals to Will Smith, Joe Jiménez, Kenley Jansen, Pierce Johnson, Chris Martin and Collin McHugh. There’s also Reynaldo López, though he may wind up in the starting rotation this year. Atlanta also acquired Iglesias from the Angels with three-plus years remaining on his four-year $58MM deal.
Minter would be in line for a nice deal himself if he continues pitching well this year. He’s in his final season of club control and agreed to a $6.22MM salary with the club in order to avoid arbitration. The club could keep him around by putting some money down on the table, as they did with Johnson and Jiménez. Both of those pitchers were slated for free agency at the end of 2023 but Johnson got a two-year, $14.25MM extension in October and Jiménez a three-year, $26MM deal in early November, the day after the World Series ended but before free agency officially began.
If no deal is worked out and Minter signs elsewhere in free agency next winter, it will be his first time in another organization. He was selected by Atlanta in the 2015 draft, going 75th overall, and has been with the club ever since.