The Braves announced that they have signed a free agent infielder Luis Guillorme on a one-year, $1.1 million contract. Atlanta also avoided right-handed arbitration Huascar Ynoaand signed a contract for $825,000. Guillorme, a client of MVP Sports Group, has been in the MLB for almost five years, so Atlanta could still control him through arbitration for the 2025 season.
Guillorme remains in the NL East after spending his entire career with the Mets. He played a decade in the New York organization as a former 10th round draftee. The glove-first infielder debuted in 2018 and has made it to the big leagues each of the last six years. While he saw sporadic action in each of his first three seasons, Guillorme has gotten a little more work in the last three seasons.
The left-handed hitter posted an overall league average of .270/.359/.331 in 491 plate appearances between 2021 and 2022. Combined with his solid glove throughout the infield, he was a valuable bench player. Guillorme's offense dipped last year as he hit .224/.288/.327 in 54 games. After Guillorme scored in around 14% of his appearances in the previous two seasons, he achieved a rate of 23.3% a year ago.
This decline in offense led to the Mets moving on in November. New York non-tendered the 29-year-old in lieu of a projected salary of $1.7 million for his penultimate arbitration season. Guillorme won't quite reach that level in his deal with Atlanta, but he will have another break in the big leagues.
Guillorme is out of options. Atlanta must add him to the MLB roster or make him available to other teams through trade or waivers. That the Braves guaranteed him $1.1 million suggests they are likely to add him to the Opening Day roster. Guillorme can support the starting infield of Matt Olson, Ozzie Albies, Orlando Arcia And Austin Riley. Thanks to that, there weren't many shortstop reps in Queens Francisco Lindorbut Guillorme is capable of handling any infield spot.
Atlanta taken over David Fletcher from the Angels last month. At that point, he seemed like the option to replace him Nicky Lopez as a depth infielder. The Braves moved Fletcher off the 40-man roster not long after the move, which at least raised the possibility of him starting at Triple-A Gwinnett next season.
Ynoa, meanwhile, was projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz at a salary of $1 million for his first year in arbitration. He lost all of last season's rehab season due to Tommy John surgery, but could compete for the fifth starting spot in camp.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.