MILWAUKEE — Neither Jorge Soler nor Luke Jackson expected to be traded, but when they found out where they were headed it made it easier to swallow. Much easier. The San Francisco Giants traded them to the Atlanta Braves, the team Soler and Jackson helped win the 2021 World Series.
“I’m extremely happy to be back here,” Soler said through an interpreter Wednesday morning before his first game back with the Braves, a 6-2 win against the Milwaukee Brewers that featured two sets of back-to-back home runs by Matt Olson and Travis d’Arnaud, in the fourth and eighth innings.
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Soler smiled when asked if he ever thought he’d play again for the Braves after 2021.
“I did think that one day I’d probably come back,” he said, “but not as soon as I’m back.”
Jackson, who spent five seasons with the Braves through 2021, said, “I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone. It’s wild. It’s like if you transferred high schools back to the high school you went to originally.”
As if on cue, veteran pitcher Charlie Morton approached him where Jackson was being interviewed at his locker and the two hugged before Jackson continued discussing what it meant to be back.
“I mean, this is home for me,” said Jackson, 32, a South Florida native who lives in Atlanta. “These are some of my best friends and a lot of new guys. And funny enough, I was traded for Tyler (Matzek). And the first guy who called me after was Tyler, just to yell at me for a while. But it was a great conversation, and I think he’s working on getting back healthy.”
Snitker said #Braves will be careful not to overdo it first weeks with Soler, since he'd not played in the field all season and had DH'd only with S.F. That's why he came out after seven innings today. Snit said he wants to play every day, but they might give him occasional rest.
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) July 31, 2024
Soler was the 2021 World Series MVP after hitting three homers in the series win over the Houston Astros, including a mammoth three-run shot in the third inning of the series-clinching Game 6 win. The towering drive sailed over the train tracks high above left field and landed outside Minute Made Park.
“I’ve seen it a lot of times, and ever since I got traded it’s all over (social media) again,” Soler said when asked how often he’d seen that home run in the years since.
Braves fans often joke that the ball hasn’t landed yet, to which Soler said, “I think it’s come down,” then smiled and laughed.
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It’s a warm smile and infectious laugh with Soler, who was universally popular with teammates during his three-month stint with the Braves from the 2021 trade deadline through the World Series win and victory parade in the first week of November.
The amiable, self-effacing Jackson was similarly popular in the clubhouse — and eventually among fans — during his half-decade with the Braves. He’s known as such a jokester that Jackson thought he was getting pranked when first told Monday by someone in the San Francisco clubhouse that he was on the trading block.
That night, he was at dinner with his wife when he got the call from Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi to tell him he indeed had been traded to the Braves.
“It was just kind of shocking,” said Jackson, who’s in the second year of a two-year, $11.5 contract that has a $7 million option for 2025 and $2 million buyout. “He was like, ‘Yeah, you’re going back to Atlanta.’ I was like, no way. I make a lot of jokes these days, and now I think everyone’s just joking with me.”
The pair’s outgoing nature and humor were part of why Braves from the 2021 team were so glad to hear Atlanta was bringing back Soler and Jackson, who traveled from San Francisco together Tuesday on a twice-delayed flight that got them to Chicago after 10 p.m. and to Milwaukee around midnight via limousine.
When they arrived at the team hotel, Soler said he hung out a while with some of the Braves in Marcell Ozuna’s room.
There were hugs all around in the clubhouse Wednesday morning. Soler was in the lineup, batting leadoff and playing right field, after serving exclusively as a designated hitter with the Giants.
“I haven’t played in the outfield all year long, so I’m excited and a little anxious,” said Soler, who handled his defensive chances smoothly and made a couple of throws to the infield that showed his strong arm. He went 0-for-3 with a walk, a strikeout and a lineout before exiting after seven innings with the Braves ahead 4-2.
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The Braves will try to ease him into the heavier workload of playing both sides of the ball, and manager Brian Snitker said for a couple of weeks he’ll be careful not to play him too many games in a row, though Soler wants to be in the lineup every day.
Soler, 32, is signed for two more seasons at $13 million per, and the Braves are expected to have him in the outfield at least the rest of this season and next, since they hold a $16 million team option on Ozuna, their All-Star DH.
“I feel like the team’s in a good spot,” Soler said of the Braves, who’ve struggled with injuries and slumping stars but still lead the NL wild-card race and believe they’ve got a shot at catching the Philadelphia Phillies in the divisional race. “I’m just here really to give my best effort when I take the field, and just do anything that I can to help the team win.”
His teammates certainly remember the impact he had on the field and in the clubhouse after being traded from Kansas City at the deadline in 2021, when Soler hit 14 homers with a .358 OBP and .524 slugging percentage in 55 games for the Braves, including 11 games in the leadoff spot.
“When you’ve got a presence like that leading off the game, you’ve got to have your stuff together (as a pitcher) right out of the gate,” said Braves veteran Chris Sale, who gave up two runs and three hits in the first inning Wednesday, but only three more hits for the remainder of his 5 2/3 innings. “I’ve always heard good things about (Soler). Everyone was really pumped to have him back (both for) who he is as a teammate, and what he can do on the field.”
“I’ve been on the other side of (Soler) a lot – not a fun guy to see in the box,” said Olson, who along with d’Arnaud became the third Braves duo to have back-to-back homers twice in the same game in the team’s Atlanta era, joining Javy López and Andruw Jones (1998) and Fred McGriff and David Justice (1993).
The Braves expect to see plenty of hits, homers and walks from the leadoff spot with Soler there. After missing most of the 2021 NLCS due to a positive COVID-19 test, he hit .333 with a 1.274 OPS in the Braves’ final seven postseason games including the World Series, where he made his biggest mark.
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In addition to filling a need — the Braves wanted to add an outfield bat — Austin Riley said that bringing back good teammates would make the transition easier for everybody.
“I think it makes a lot of sense, and I’m excited to have him,” Riley said. “Same with Jackson. Everybody loves Luke, and that spark, that energy, good vibes and what he can bring in the clubhouse. We’ve already got a great vibe here, but it’s another guy that fits in just great.”
Matzek and Jackson were part of the “Night Shift” Braves bullpen in 2021 that had a major role in the march to Atlanta’s first World Series title since 1995. Matzek became a folk hero across Braves Country for his swagger and strong work in the 2021 playoffs — 13 appearances with a 1.72 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 15 2/3 innings.
He missed the next postseason and all of 2023 after Tommy John surgery, and setbacks and other ailments this season limited Matzek to 11 appearances, none since May 4. He and a High-A prospect were traded to the Giants, who were looking to trim some payroll by moving Soler and Jackson.
Meanwhile, Braves officials wanted to add offense and make it clear to the clubhouse that they appreciate what the team has overcome.
Braves GM and president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos was asked how important it was to send that signal.
“We felt as a front office that we need to do our part to help any way we can,” he said. “We can’t throw a pitch, we can’t swing a bat, but it’s on us to do things for the clubhouse, for the manager, for the coaches, for the fan base, people in the organization as well.”
Sale said the trade showed “We’re all pulling from the same side of the rope. … When you know that you have a clubhouse that is undivided and the front office is standing behind you and has your back and believes in you, it gives us a good little boost of energy, and you get after it in the second half.”
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Anthopoulos has seen the Braves rally from large deficits to win previous division titles, including that 2021 team that was 52-55 and five games out of first place on Aug. 1 and finished 88-73 to win the NL East by 6 1/2 games.
“We have a team very much capable of getting to the playoffs,” Anthopoulos said. “If we can get to the playoffs — with health, of course — with what we feel like is a strong rotation, a very strong bullpen, and an offense that has the upside to be much better than it’s shown. … Look, we’ve seen in the last two postseasons, the sixth (playoff team) in the NL got to the World Series. That’s not saying that people are shooting for that spot or that’s going to happen, but just more of a reminder of the variability of the postseason and that anything can happen.”
He added, “When we had a great season last year, the Dodgers had a great season, and the Diamondbacks during the season didn’t get the win totals, but man, they played their best baseball when they needed it. And they rode it all the way to the World Series. Same thing with the Phillies in 2022. So if you get in, you’re giving yourself a shot.”
(Photo of Matt Olson: John Fisher / Getty Images)
David O'Brien is a senior writer covering the Atlanta Braves for The Athletic. He previously covered the Braves for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and covered the Marlins for eight seasons, including the 1997 World Series championship. He is a two-time winner of the NSMA Georgia Sportswriter of the Year award. Follow David on Twitter @DOBrienATL
