NORTH PORT, Fla. — To reiterate, numbers in spring training historically mean very little. Still, new Braves outfielder Mike Yastrzemski is putting up some pretty good stats through six Grapefruit League games.

“Yeah, no matter what time of year, if you’re having success, then the work you’ve been putting in is paying off,” Yastrzemski told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Whether or not you wanna put a whole lot of stock into it, I don’t know? But it’s definitely something to feel good about.”

Yastrzemski was in the lineup Saturday for a game against the Orioles at CoolToday Park. He was penciled in to hit fifth and play left field, looking to continue his hot start at the plate in his first spring with the Braves.

In six games, Yastrzemski entered the game 8-for-14 with three home runs and five RBIs. He has scored six runs, walked thrice and doubled. And in the field, Yastrzemski has made five putouts and thrown out a runner at second trying to stretch a single into a double.

Not bad for a 35-year-old who took a two-year contract with the Braves in December.

“I just felt like there’s still a lot left in the tank,” he said about his mindset this offseason, after spending more than seven seasons with the Giants before being traded to the Royals at the end of the 2025 season. “My body feels great, my mind feels great. I just wanted to put myself in an opportunity to be able to fully invest in a team and the next couple of years trying to win a championship versus just having to try and fight for a contract year in and year out.”

Yastrzemski isn’t expected, by any means, to carry the Braves’ offense among a lineup of former All-Stars, former rookies of the year and a former MVP. So, if he can contribute anything close to the offensive numbers he has showcased thus far when the games start to matter, his offseason signing by the Braves could be viewed as quite the coup.

A Yastrzemski value that won’t fluctuate, however, over the next six months or so is his clubhouse reputation. Braves infielder Brett Wisely made his MLB debut with the Giants in 2023 and spent most of his first three seasons in the big leagues as a teammate of Yastrzemski.

“He’s a great dude. He kind of took me under his wing when I first got over there, being a vet in that clubhouse, because I got traded from Tampa to San Francisco, so going over there, I didn’t really know anybody. And ‘Yaz’ was very open, he was very helpful. And it was very, very nice being a young guy coming into the clubhouse having someone like that. He didn’t have to do that, but he did it anyways.

“And that just kind of speaks to his character, about who he is and the type of person he wants to be in the clubhouse. And when he got signed over here, I sent a text like, ‘Oh, look at us back together.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, man, that’s kind of why I signed over there!’ But he’s a great guy, great teammate, he’s a great player. And it’s just fun to kind of pick his brain. He’s been around the game so long.”

The knock on the left-handed Yastrzemski, from a hitting standpoint, has been his ability to hit left-handed pitching. His career batting average against lefties is 35 points lower than when facing righties, and only 20 of his 123 career homers have come against southpaws. This spring, Yastrzemski is 2-for-5 with an RBI and a walk against left-handed pitchers.

Because of his career struggles against left-handers, Yastrzemski was expected to split time in the lineup with Jurickson Profar, but now that Profar has been suspended for the entire season, Yastrzemski may be more of a full-time player than he bargained for when he arrived in North Port in February. That won’t change his approach, he said, now or moving forward.