The Atlanta Braves open Spring Training as the favorites across Georgia sports betting to win the NL East, which gives them odds of +110 to win it for the seventh time in the last eight seasons.
While the Braves have several star players who have contributed to the team’s current run of success that dates to the 2018 season, winning teams need more than their stars to shine. Winning teams need contributions from utility and other role players throughout the 162-game season if they want to play in October.
With the start of the 2025 regular season just a little more than a month away, BetGeorgia.com wanted to identify who the Braves players likely to be the most undervalued players this season. To do that, we used Fangraphs.com to gather the 2025 salary information and projected 2025 WAR. Once acquiring that information, we divided the salary by the player’s projected WAR to determine the players’ potential value.
Player | 2025 Salary | 2025 Projected WAR | Value * |
Spencer Schwellenbach (Pitcher) | $800,000 | 2.7 | $296,296 |
Grant Holmes (Pitcher) | $800,000 | 1.2 | $666,667 |
Orlando Arcia (Shortstop) | $2,000,000 | 1.6 | $1,250,000 |
*(Salary Per WAR)
Note: Some players’ salaries are represented by their salary before arbitration. Only players projected on the Opening Day 40-Man Roster were included.
Spencer Schwellenbach’s stats may not jump out at you, but in his rookie campaign last season, he produced at a greater value than any other Braves pitcher. That includes Atlanta ace and NL Cy Young winner Chris Sale. Schwellenbach, a 24-year-old righthander, went 8-7 in 21 starts with a 3.35 earned-run average and a WHIP of 1.043. He also struck out 127 batters in 123-2/3 innings.
All of that equaled a WAR value of 2.7 for the starting pitcher who made $740,000, meaning each 1.0 of WAR cost the team less than $275,000. Fangraphs expects Schwellenbach to offer similar value this season.
Just how undervalued is Schwellenbach? For comparison, in the 2024-25 MLB offseason, teams averaged paying veteran big leaguers $8 million per 1.0 WAR on the free agent market.
Schwellenbach wasn’t the only Braves rookie pitcher offering value. After toiling 10 seasons in the minor leagues, Grant Holmes finally made his MLB debut on June 16. In 26 appearances, which included seven starts, the righty went 2-1 with a 3.56 ERA and a 1.185 WHIP. That equaled a WAR of 1.1, which meant he earned more than $672,000 per 1.0 WAR last season.
Like Schwellenbach, Fangraphs expects Holmes, who turns 29 next month, to produce in similar fashion this season.
Orlando Arcia had, by all accounts, a forgettable 2024 campaign. While he once again hit 17 home runs, tying his career best first set in 2023, his slash line of .218/.271/.354 was well below the .264/.321/.420 he produced in 2023.
Last season, Arcia accounted for a WAR of just 0.5 despite playing in 157 games and making 602 plate appearances. Fangraphs expects the 30-year-old to bounce back and produce similar numbers to 2023, when he had a 1.6 WAR. Arcia is scheduled to make $2 million this season, the last guaranteed year on his contract.
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USA Today photo by Frank Bowen IV.
Author
Steve is an accomplished, award-winning reporter with more than 20 years of experience covering gaming, sports, politics and business. He has written for the Associated Press, Reuters, The Louisville Courier Journal, The Center Square and numerous other publications. Based in Louisville, Ky., Steve has covered the expansion of sports betting in the U.S. and other gaming matters.
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