Robert Suarez puts Braves' pitching staff back in the limelight among NL East superpowers

After a disappointing end to their 2024 season, the Atlanta Braves entered 2025 with high expectations that they unfortunately failed to meet due to a number of reasons. One of those reasons being a lack of depth and consistency from their pitching staff. 

Between Spencer Strider, Chris Sale, and Spencer Schwellenbach, the Braves have one of the most talented top-ends of a starting rotation in baseball. However, they weren’t able to get full seasons out of any of those arms. Rather, it was Bryce Elder who threw the most innings on the staff with 156 ⅓ while posting a 5.30 ERA. That is simply not a recipe for success for a team like the Braves looking to climb back into contention in a loaded National League East.

On the bullpen side of things, the Braves had a number of contributors throughout the season, but aside from Raisel Iglesias on the back end, they really lacked a true impact arm. That showed in the final tally for the season as the bullpen ranked within the bottom ten of the league in ERA (4.19), FIP (4.26), and fWAR (1.3). Combine the bullpen with the starting rotation, and that was the case as well. 

Robert Suarez and Raisel Iglesias will make up one of the best bullpens in baseball

A strong back-end of the bullpen along with depth across the entire pitching staff is vital to success in today’s game. With their sights set on returning to the postseason and a division crown in 2026, the Braves are prioritizing improving both of those areas during the offseason. They took a huge first step in the right direction by signing former Padres closer, Robert Suarez, to a three-year contract worth $45 million.

Suarez was the best reliever in the best bullpen in baseball in 2025. He saved 40 games for the San Diego Padres, improving upon his breakout season in 2024. Between his last two seasons, no reliever has more saves (76), while he has posted a 2.87 ERA, 3.17 FIP, 0.97 WHIP, and a .201 batting average against. 

While he has been one of the best closers in the game over the past two seasons, Suarez is expected to move into an eighth inning role, allowing Raisel Iglesias to remain as Atlanta’s closer. With that being said, the Braves now own arguably the best back end of a bullpen in all of baseball. Aside from Edwin Diaz, Suarez and Iglesias were the top two relievers on the open market this winter, and they will both wear a Braves uniform this spring. 

The high leverage reliever market has dried up fairly quickly leaving the rest of the National League, especially the east, scrambling to improve their bullpens. The Mets were able to replace Edwin Diaz with Devin Williams after Diaz skipped town for Los Angeles, but that certainly didn’t improve New York’s bullpen considering Williams’s struggles last year. Outside of Jhoan Duran and Matt Strahm, the Phillies have a number of question marks in their bullpen and have yet to add any significant pitchers to their staff. 

Only a few teams can match the pitching upside the Braves have

Health is obviously a very important factor in the Braves pitching staff reaching their potential as it was an achilles heel for them in each of the last two seasons, but health aside, their pitching staff now has one of the highest ceilings in the game.

In the starting rotation, Strider, Sale, and Schwellenbach all present themselves as pitchers that can realistically win a Cy Young award. The Dodgers are the only other team in baseball that can say the same thing about their rotation. With the addition of Suarez, the Braves have also entered rare territory with the Dodgers arguably being the only other bullpen with the high end talent to match Atlanta’s back end. 

With the offseason far from over, the Braves pitching staff is likely not a finished product. They don’t have a lot of money tied up in pitching and a number of fairly affordable arms remain on the free agent market. The addition of one more impact arm in either the starting rotation or the bullpen would certainly put the Braves in prime position to compete at a high level again in 2026. As it stands right now, they will enter 2026 with the best pitching staff in the National League East and one of the best staffs in all of baseball.