The 2025 season didn’t go as planned for the Atlanta Braves, but amid the frustration, a clear organizational strategy emerged, one rooted in evaluation, experimentation, and long-term planning. As the rotation faltered and the postseason slipped out of reach, Atlanta shifted gears with precision, moving away from contention and into exploration. At the heart of this pivot was a relentless push to replenish a pitching depth chart that had thinned to worrying levels.
Braves Waiver Wires and Reclamation Projects
From May onward, the Braves’ front office operated like a real-time scouting lab. Pitchers came and went with regularity, waiver claims, minor-league deals, emergency call-ups, all funneled through a process that prioritized potential over pedigree. Every arm that passed through the clubhouse was a test case. Could he, at minimum, stabilize Gwinnett while the Braves bought time to reconstruct their long-term staff?
Names like Tyler Kinley and Ha-Seong Kim stood out, not because they were reclamation projects, but because their salaries suggested the Braves were not simply trimming fat. They were spending to gather data. This wasn’t a fire sale. It was a diagnostic mission.
Connor Seabold: A Short Stay with Long-Term Implications
Connor Seabold joined that mission late in the year. A modest waiver claim, his time in Atlanta was short and largely unremarkable on the surface. His Triple-A ERA is north of 6.00, and 15 home runs allowed in just over 60 innings paint a blunt picture. But for a Braves team laser-focused on turning over every stone, Seabold was another live arm in the audition queue.
Now, his next chapter begins with the Toronto Blue Jays. A minor-league deal gives Seabold a clean slate, and Toronto, like Atlanta before them, is banking on the value of innings. He doesn’t need to be dominant. He just needs to be useful, and maybe, with the right tweaks, something more.
Evaluating the Process, Not Just the Pitchers
For the Braves, Seabold’s departure is both expected and emblematic. He’s one of many names they cycled through in a lost season, part of a strategy that valued volume and evaluation above short-term impact. In doing so, Atlanta set a tone that could pay dividends. The process wasn’t flashy. It wasn’t headline-worthy. But it was deliberate, and it was necessary.
Now, as 2026 approaches, the real test begins, not for Seabold, but for the method that brought him (and so many others) briefly into the fold.
