Braves' best newcomer is $1.25M slugger after .962 OPS start to 2026

This past offseason, the Atlanta Braves made a few interesting additions to the roster. While the Ha-Seong Kim injury ordeal soured a bit of the feelings of the offseason, the new faces that joined the team have played very well.

Robert Suarez is dominant, while Mauricio Dubon has been incredible as the temporary shortstop. Along with Mike Yastrezemski, one of those three Braves pickups seemingly would've been the best of the offseason.

However, as Tim Britton of The Athletic highlighted, the Braves' best offseason addition was none of those three. Instead, it was a $1.25 million and .962 OPS slugger, Dominic Smith.

Braves' best newcomer is $1.25M signing Dominic Smith

"Best newcomer: Dominic Smith," Britton writes. "On his sixth team in the last five years, Smith hit a walk-off grand slam in his first game with Atlanta and hasn't slowed down since."

With Jurison Profar and Sean Murphy both out for some time, the Braves have needed some of their other players to become more of an offensive threat.

Smith has become just that, as he's dominating so far this season. His slash line is ridiculous .345/.362/.600, good for a .962 OPS on the season so far.

He's played in 18 games and had 55 at-bats. He's posted 19 hits, 10 runs scored, two doubles, four homers, 17 RBIs, and two walks with only seven strikeouts.

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The 167 OPS+ so far this season is only bested by his 2020 OPS+ of 168 with the New York Mets across 50 games.

Now with the Braves, he's been playing some incredible baseball. He's only a designated hitter and has more than made up for the loss of Marcell Ozuna this past offseason.

The big question for the Braves will be if he can continue to stay this hot, and if he will stay in the lineup when Murphy and Kim return. But, for now, Smith has been the best newcomer to the Braves roster.

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