<img alt="MLB: SEP 05 Rockies at Braves" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ShMA-cVfdeHtzNcVI_VHqxtMHt4=/0x0:3226x2151/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73725714/2169816867.0.jpg">
Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The friendly neighborhood sliderman returned to Atlanta’s bullpen at the Trade Deadline, but probably didn’t do enough to return in 2025 Returning to the mound as an Atlanta Braves pitcher for the first time since 2021 after being acquired at the Trade Deadline, Luke Jackson made 16 relief appearances for his new-old team.
Also returning to the mound: the ghosts that plagued him during his time in Atlanta, which made his return a mixed bag.
How acquired
Luke Jackson and the Atlanta Braves kept the transaction wire busy during his first couple of years with the club (as you can read in our 2021 player review here). In 2024, Jackson returned to Atlanta accompanying another former Brave, Jorge Soler, when the two were traded to Atlanta from the San Francisco Giants for an injured Tyler Matzek and infield prospect Sabin Ceballos.
What were the expectations?
Because a right-handed reliever wasn’t on too many radars as a need for Atlanta heading into last week of July, Jackson ended up being an unexpected addition to the Braves pitching staff. At the time of the trade, he had a very Luke Jackson-esque line: -0.2 fWAR in 36 appearances thanks to a 115 FIP- that was very inflated relative to his 97 xFIP-. And in true Luke Jackson fashion, he had a 134 ERA- despite the average-y pitching performance. Oof.
As a result, expectations were pretty low, since even a 97 xFIP- isn’t all that exciting for a reliever. The Braves didn’t really need another mop-up guy in the bullpen, but that’s basically what they added.
2024 Results
With Atlanta, it was the full Luke Jackson experience, and it didn’t take long to get started. After some variety in his first few relief outings (1/3 of an inning, then 3 2⁄3 innings, then a horrible single inning), Jackson had a true ghost-laden outing at Coors Field, where he faced six batters, got two strikeouts, and allowed a homer and three ball-in-play hits. As a result, after those four outings combined, he had a 229 ERA-, 176 FIP-, and 93 xFIP- as a Brave. (And, of course, his outing in Colorado was a big part of an epic team meltdown.)
From that point on, he largely cruised — a 53 ERA-, 56 FIP-, and an 84 xFIP-. That guy probably had a spot in the Braves bullpen as something other than a mop-up guy, but given that he had already been condemned to low leverage, it really didn’t matter.
In the end, it was a 108/94/87 line for him as a Brave (0.0 fWAR), and a 125/108/94 line for him overall (-0.1 fWAR). That was a pretty big downturn from 2023, when he returned from his elbow injury with a very nice (and un-Luke Jackson-like) 70/78/80 line in half a season of work.
What went right?
Aside from the homecoming, Jackson had that nice run to end the regular season, though it came almost entirely in low leverage. He even secured a spot on the playoff roster, though that playoff appearance didn’t go particularly well.
Jackson’s stuff continued to r(ate well, generating above-average rates of chases, whiffs, strikeouts, and grounders. His pitches continued to have great shape. There were things to like, even if the topline results were not so great.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to pull out a particularly useful outing for Jackson during his 2024 Braves tenure — he mostly worked in low leverage, and things went poorly the few times he didn’t. His best outing by WPA was keeping a deficit to one run in the ninth inning against Philadelphia on August 21, where he worked a 1-2-3 frame in weird fashion (reach on strikeout, flyout, double play)... but the Braves still lost the game.
What went wrong?
A lot, really, and maybe none of it was surprising.
Jackson missed the early stages of the 2024 regular season with a back strain after making an appearance on Opening Day that saw him yield three runs without recording an out (at least he walked a guy so he wasn’t totally blameless). He also had a terrible June for San Francisco, with an absurd 2/6 K/BB ratio and two homers allowed in 9 2⁄3 innings of work.
And, as mentioned, he never really shook the continued underperformance of his peripherals, not even when traded to Atlanta.
Sure, the game against the Rockies was bad, but August 25, against the Nationals, was even worse, and in the most Luke Jackson way possible. Jackson came into a 1-1 game in the seventh, one of his few appearances for the Braves with any semblance of leverage, and this happened:
Fielding error by Whit Merrifield at second base on a hard grounder
Strikeout
Seeing-eye bouncer up the middle
Two straight pitches that got away from Sean Murphy, leading to the go-ahead run scoring
Liner over third that iced the game
You’ve seen it before, he’s seen it before, the Braves have seen it before, and it is what it is.
2025 outlook
The Braves acquired a $7 million option for Jackson’s services for 2025, with a $2 million buyout, when they traded for him. They didn’t exercise it, to no one’s surprise. Will Jackson’s handful of successful outings to end the season entice someone to give him some guaranteed money and a likely roster spot? Who knows. But it’s possible. He’s projected as a generic reliever next season, and given his career to date, that makes sense. Those guys generally latch on somewhere. It could even be with the Braves, though it’d probably be a pretty low guarantee if that were the case.
<img alt="MLB: SEP 05 Rockies at Braves" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ShMA-cVfdeHtzNcVI_VHqxtMHt4=/0x0:3226x2151/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73725714/2169816867.0.jpg">
Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
The friendly neighborhood sliderman returned to Atlanta’s bullpen at the Trade Deadline, but probably didn’t do enough to return in 2025 Returning to the mound as an Atlanta Braves pitcher for the first time since 2021 after being acquired at the Trade Deadline, Luke Jackson made 16 relief appearances for his new-old team.
Also returning to the mound: the ghosts that plagued him during his time in Atlanta, which made his return a mixed bag.
How acquired
Luke Jackson and the Atlanta Braves kept the transaction wire busy during his first couple of years with the club (as you can read in our 2021 player review here). In 2024, Jackson returned to Atlanta accompanying another former Brave, Jorge Soler, when the two were traded to Atlanta from the San Francisco Giants for an injured Tyler Matzek and infield prospect Sabin Ceballos.
What were the expectations?
Because a right-handed reliever wasn’t on too many radars as a need for Atlanta heading into last week of July, Jackson ended up being an unexpected addition to the Braves pitching staff. At the time of the trade, he had a very Luke Jackson-esque line: -0.2 fWAR in 36 appearances thanks to a 115 FIP- that was very inflated relative to his 97 xFIP-. And in true Luke Jackson fashion, he had a 134 ERA- despite the average-y pitching performance. Oof.
As a result, expectations were pretty low, since even a 97 xFIP- isn’t all that exciting for a reliever. The Braves didn’t really need another mop-up guy in the bullpen, but that’s basically what they added.
2024 Results
With Atlanta, it was the full Luke Jackson experience, and it didn’t take long to get started. After some variety in his first few relief outings (1/3 of an inning, then 3 2⁄3 innings, then a horrible single inning), Jackson had a true ghost-laden outing at Coors Field, where he faced six batters, got two strikeouts, and allowed a homer and three ball-in-play hits. As a result, after those four outings combined, he had a 229 ERA-, 176 FIP-, and 93 xFIP- as a Brave. (And, of course, his outing in Colorado was a big part of an epic team meltdown.)
From that point on, he largely cruised — a 53 ERA-, 56 FIP-, and an 84 xFIP-. That guy probably had a spot in the Braves bullpen as something other than a mop-up guy, but given that he had already been condemned to low leverage, it really didn’t matter.
In the end, it was a 108/94/87 line for him as a Brave (0.0 fWAR), and a 125/108/94 line for him overall (-0.1 fWAR). That was a pretty big downturn from 2023, when he returned from his elbow injury with a very nice (and un-Luke Jackson-like) 70/78/80 line in half a season of work.
What went right?
Aside from the homecoming, Jackson had that nice run to end the regular season, though it came almost entirely in low leverage. He even secured a spot on the playoff roster, though that playoff appearance didn’t go particularly well.
Jackson’s stuff continued to r(ate well, generating above-average rates of chases, whiffs, strikeouts, and grounders. His pitches continued to have great shape. There were things to like, even if the topline results were not so great.
Unfortunately, it’s hard to pull out a particularly useful outing for Jackson during his 2024 Braves tenure — he mostly worked in low leverage, and things went poorly the few times he didn’t. His best outing by WPA was keeping a deficit to one run in the ninth inning against Philadelphia on August 21, where he worked a 1-2-3 frame in weird fashion (reach on strikeout, flyout, double play)... but the Braves still lost the game.
What went wrong?
A lot, really, and maybe none of it was surprising.
Jackson missed the early stages of the 2024 regular season with a back strain after making an appearance on Opening Day that saw him yield three runs without recording an out (at least he walked a guy so he wasn’t totally blameless). He also had a terrible June for San Francisco, with an absurd 2/6 K/BB ratio and two homers allowed in 9 2⁄3 innings of work.
And, as mentioned, he never really shook the continued underperformance of his peripherals, not even when traded to Atlanta.
Sure, the game against the Rockies was bad, but August 25, against the Nationals, was even worse, and in the most Luke Jackson way possible. Jackson came into a 1-1 game in the seventh, one of his few appearances for the Braves with any semblance of leverage, and this happened:
Fielding error by Whit Merrifield at second base on a hard grounder
Strikeout
Seeing-eye bouncer up the middle
Two straight pitches that got away from Sean Murphy, leading to the go-ahead run scoring
Liner over third that iced the game
You’ve seen it before, he’s seen it before, the Braves have seen it before, and it is what it is.
2025 outlook
The Braves acquired a $7 million option for Jackson’s services for 2025, with a $2 million buyout, when they traded for him. They didn’t exercise it, to no one’s surprise. Will Jackson’s handful of successful outings to end the season entice someone to give him some guaranteed money and a likely roster spot? Who knows. But it’s possible. He’s projected as a generic reliever next season, and given his career to date, that makes sense. Those guys generally latch on somewhere. It could even be with the Braves, though it’d probably be a pretty low guarantee if that were the case.
Link to original article
