How Profar We’ve Come
Jurickson Profar (ATL): 2-3, 2 HR, 4 R, 2 RBI, 3 BB.
Jurickson Profar’s baseball journey could be made into a box office movie when it is all said and done. A star in the Little League World Series for Curacao in 2004 and 2005, Profar signed with the Texas Rangers at the age of 16 and became one of the top prospects in baseball by 2011. He debuted with the Rangers in 2012 and hit a home run in his first major league at-bat, although he would struggle the rest of the season and again in 2013. Injuries robbed him of the entire 2014 and 2015 seasons. After lackluster 2016 and 2017 seasons, it looked like it would be difficult for Profar to live up to the enormous hype he entered the Majors with.
Profar finally broke through with 20 HRs and slashed .254/.335/.458 for Texas in 2018, but was traded to the Oakland Athletics during the offseason, and his previous struggles reemerged in 2019, especially on the defensive side, despite hitting 20 HRs again. Profar was traded again following the 2019 season to the San Diego Padres, where he bounced back with a .278/.343/.428 line in the shortened 2020 season, resulting in a three-year, $21 million contract with San Diego. However, his struggles at the plate reared their ugly head again, along with a nasty concussion injury, resulting in him opting out of his contract after the 2022 season. He signed with Colorado in March 2023, hoping Coors Field would reignite his stagnant bat, but he hit just .236/.316/.364 through 111 games and was released in late August.
The 2024 season saw him back with the Padres, and Profar rewarded the team’s faith in him with his best MLB season, hitting .280/.380/.459 with 24 HRs and ten stolen bases and earning a trip to his first All-Star Game. The former top prospect cashed in on his big season, signing a three-year, $42 million contract with Atlanta in the offseason, and seemed primed to be a big part of a star-studded Braves lineup. But the baseball gods would test Profar yet again, this time with an 80-game suspension to begin the 2025 season after he tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug. A disappointing season has ensued for both Profar and the Braves, but the once vaunted offense is surging here in August, punctuated by the 32-year-old’s two HR game yesterday in a 12-1 win over Miami, which followed an 11-2 win on Tuesday. Profar has been excellent since coming back from his suspension, hitting .267/.377/.500 with 12 HRs in just 210 at-bats, and while Atlanta won’t be playing for any championships this season, Profar could be the key piece to some fantasy championships in September.
Let’s see how the other hitters did on Wednesday:
Ozzie Albies (ATL): 2-5, HR, 2 R, 5 RBI.
Braves second baseman Ozzie Albies blew the game wide open in the third inning with a three-run HR, his 13th of the season, and added a two-run single an inning later. Albies has had as disappointing a season as any of the Braves’ hitters, but he looks to be coming on strong to end August with three HRs and nine RBI in his last two games.
Ben Rice (NYY): 3-5, HR, 2 R, RBI.
The Yankees continue to rely on the long ball, as they hit six in their 11-2 win over Washington on Wednesday, including four in the third inning. Rice hit the final of those four home runs and has cemented himself as a key piece in the heart of New York’s lineup, hitting .340/.453/.755 with six long balls over his last 15 games.
Aaron Judge (NYY): 2-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI.
Judge got the third inning HR parade started with his 41st of the season. He has fallen off a bit from his historic start to the season, but the 33-year-old superstar still has a career-best .323 AVG in 2025, slightly besting his .322 from 2024.
Eugenio Suárez (SEA): 2-4, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, SB.
Eugenio Suárez delivered a huge three-run HR in the fourth inning off Yu Darvish, as Seattle held on to win 4-3 over San Diego. The long ball was his sixth in 90 at-bats with the Mariners, and his 42 HRs on the season are the second-most in his career, behind his 49 in 2019. He has also now matched his career-high 104 RBI, with a month of baseball left to play.
Mark Vientos (NYM): 2-4, HR, R, 3 RBI.
A playoff hero from 2024, this season did not go the way Mark Vientos planned, but he is starting to show flashes at the plate that made him a fan favorite in New York. Over the past week, the 25-year-old Connecticut native has hit .407/.467/.963 with four HRs and 11 RBI.
Byron Buxton (MIN): 2-5, 2 HR, 3 R, 2 RBI.
A disappointing season in Minnesota continued as the Twins blew an 8-6 lead in the eighth inning to fall to Toronto 9-8, but Byron Buxton’s resurgent campaign continued. After his two solo shots on Wednesday, Buxton is now up to 27 on the season to go along with 19 stolen bases, and most importantly, has been able to stay healthy (for the most part).
Davis Schneider (TOR): 2-3, 2 HR, 3 R, 2 RBI, BB.
Davis Schneider homered in his first two at-bats on Wednesday for his third multi-HR game of the season, and he is now up to ten HRs in 2025 in just 142 at-bats. Look for Schneider to play an important role for Toronto as they set their sights on bringing a World Series title back to Canada.
Mike Yastrzemski (KC): 2-5, HR, 2B, 3 R, 3 RBI, BB.
It is weird to see Mike Yastrzemski not in a San Francisco uniform, but the 35-year-old enjoyed a big game out of the leadoff spot for his new team as the Royals routed the White Sox 12-1. Kansas City now sits just three games out of the Wild Card, and I’m sure Yastrzemski won’t complain about playing for a playoff spot over the last month of the season.
Adolis García (TEX): 4-6, HR, 2 2B, 3 R, 5 RBI.
The Texas Rangers exploded for 20 runs against the Angels on Wednesday, headlined by Adolis García’s four-hit day. The former ALCS MVP has once again seen a decline in production at the plate in 2025, but the Rangers are hoping he can recapture some of that magic in his bat as they try to claw their way back into the playoff picture, currently sitting 4.5 games out of a Wild Card spot.
Joc Pederson (TEX): 2-6, HR, 3 R, 5 RBI.
No stranger to the playoffs himself, Joc Pederson followed up Garcia’s first-inning three-run HR with a three-run blast of his own in the second inning. There is no sugarcoating it: Pederson has had an abysmal 2025, hitting .171/.283/.326 after hitting .275/.393/.515 in Arizona last season.
Kyle Higashioka (TEX): 2-5, HR, R, 5 RBI.
Kyle Higashioka rounded out the day for Texas with another three-run HR as part of an eight-run seventh inning. Known for his defensive abilities, Higashioka still has solid pop in his bat, as evidenced by his eight HRs over his last 30 games.
Yordan Alvarez (HOU): 1-2, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB.
Yordan Alvarez finally returned to the Houston lineup on Tuesday, and on Wednesday he hit his first HR since recovering from his hand injury. The Astros have to be ecstatic to have their superstar slugger back as they try to hold on to the AL West division lead, with the Mariners only 1.5 games back going into the home stretch.
Rafael Devers (SF): 4-4, 2 HR, 2B, 4 R, 5 RBI, BB.
Rafael Devers put together a monster day for San Francisco on Wednesday, amassing 11 total bases in the team’s 12-3 win over the Cubs. Devers is now one off his HR total from 2024 and looks poised to break the 30 HR mark for the first time since 2023.
Matt Chapman (SF): 3-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI.
Matt Chapman also enjoyed a big day for the Giants, hitting his 18th HR season while going three for four. Chapman, however, has a lot of work to do to match his 27 HR total from last season, his first in a San Francisco uniform.
Zack Gelof (ATH): 2-4, HR, 2B, R, 4 RBI.
While Athletics fans have enjoyed the rise of superstars Jacob Wilson and Nick Kurtz this season, don’t forget about Zack Gelof at second base. The 25-year-old has been limited to just 11 games in 2025, but he did hit 31 HRs and stole 39 bases in 207 games over the last two seasons. If he can ever cut down on his astronomical strikeout rate, Gelof could be a productive bat to add to the A’s exciting young core.
