The Braves have taken a measured gamble on experience and potential by bringing back right-handed reliever Joel Payamps on a one-year, $2.25 million deal for the 2026 season. The move, announced this afternoon, marks a reunion with a pitcher the team briefly tested late in 2025 after claiming him off waivers from the Milwaukee Brewers.
A Struggling Season Masks a Previously Reliable Track Record
Payamps, now 31, returns to a Braves bullpen that has seen significant turnover this offseason. The club declined options on Pierce Johnson and Tyler Kinley, leaving Raisel Iglesias as the lone right-handed anchor. With Joe Jiménez’s early-season status still unclear, Atlanta’s bullpen depth chart had glaring gaps, ones that Payamps, if he can recapture past form, may help stabilize.
It’s fair to note that Payamps is coming off the worst statistical season of his major league career. Across 30 appearances between Milwaukee and Atlanta, he posted a bloated 6.84 ERA with a 7.15 xERA over just 26.1 innings. His strikeout rate dipped noticeably, and his barrel rate jumped, warning signs for any reliever, particularly one entering his mid-30s. In his brief two-game cameo for Atlanta, he managed just 2.2 innings, giving up a home run while striking out two.
Four-Year Stretch Hints at Upside If Command Returns
Yet context matters. Between 2021 and 2024, Payamps carved out a reputation as a dependable mid-to-late inning arm. His strikeout rate exceeded 25% in both 2023 and 2024, and his expected Fielding Independent Pitching (xFIP) remained under 4.00, clear evidence of sustained effectiveness beneath the surface.
A Familiar Face Joins The Braves Bullpen in Transition
Atlanta’s decision to outright Payamps earlier this off-season, only to bring him back on a modest deal, signals strategic depth-building rather than a high-leverage commitment. With six organizations now on his résumé since debuting with the Diamondbacks in 2019, Payamps has journeyed through the major leagues, adapting roles and expectations along the way.
If he returns to form, he could emerge as a quietly valuable cog in a bullpen that needs stability beyond Iglesias. If not, Atlanta’s financial risk is minimal. Either way, the Braves are betting that familiarity and experience might just yield one more effective chapter from the veteran righty.
