Braves exercise club options on Ozzie Albies, Ronald Acuña Jr.
The Braves exercised their 2027 club options on infielder Ozzie Albies ($7 million) and outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. ($17 million) on Thursday, as expected.
Albies, who turns 30 in January, is the longest-tenured Braves player. He’s among the most accomplished second basemen in franchise history, earning his fourth All-Star nod in 2026. He hit .237 with a .685 OPS while playing in all 162 games.
His performance, however, worsened over the season. He hit just .194 with a .575 OPS in the second half. Still, the club option was so financially team — friendly, it included a $4 million buyout, that exercising it was an obvious choice. This will be Albies’ final year under club control.
Acuña’s option was likewise an easy decision because of the price for his level of talent. The 2023 National League MVP underperformed this past season, hitting .255 with a .796 OPS in 107 games. The Braves might use him more as a designated hitter next season, a strategy that rested his legs and produced better offense in the season’s final weeks.
Overall, Acuña maintains a tantalizing upside — certainly worth $17 million — even as he withstood heavy criticism for his poor postseason performance. The Braves hold a 2028 club option for the same amount (with a $10 million buyout).
Speculation swirled about both players’ futures, but president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos expressed the expectation that both will be part of the 2027 Braves. They’ve been two faces of the franchise during the club’s second-longest era of sustained success in its history.
Acuña is on track to earn the maximum of $124 million on his extension signed in 2019 — a deal that was extremely controversial because of its team-friendly nature. He’ll be 31 in his first foray into free agency, assuming the team picks up his next option year and he isn’t extended before the conclusion of the 2028 season.
Albies, meanwhile, also signed a club-friendly seven-year, $35 million deal in 2019 that’s coming to an end. Albies’ looming free agency will be a subplot of the upcoming season, and he’ll likely need a resurgence to earn another sizable multiyear deal from the Braves.