2023 Braves Season in Review: Dalton Guthrie

Dalton Guthrie’s season began with the Phillies, where he saw some major league action. From there, his travels included a stop in San Francisco, but he ultimately joined Atlanta and finished his season at Triple-A Gwinnett.

How Acquired

A sixth-round draft pick of the Phillies in 2017, Guthrie made his way through Philadelphia’s minor league system and debuted in the majors in September 2022. After sporadic usage at the major league level, the Giants acquired Guthrie from the Phillies on June 13 in exchange for cash considerations. A month later, the Braves claimed him off waivers and sent him to Triple-A Gwinnett. Not long after acquiring him, the Braves designated him for assignment to make room on the 40-man roster for the returning Max Fried; he ended up being outrighted to the Stripers on August 4.

What were the expectations?

The Braves added Guthrie to serve as outfield depth at the minor league level. He stuck around on the 40-man roster for a few weeks, but was never added to the active roster. Guthrie actually hit pretty well in Triple-A for the Phillies, which is what earned him his MLB debut, but he’s still pretty low in the pecking order for major league playing time.

2023 Results

Guthrie appeared in 23 games at the MLB level for the Phillies and went 4-for-24 at the plate with a double. He was 11-for-40 with four doubles during his brief stint with the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate and then hit .271/.363/.345 in 49 games with Gwinnett.

What went right?

Three different teams saw enough from Guthrie to add him to their roster. While he wasn’t able to carve out a role in any of his stops, he did provide depth for the Braves down the stretch. He also has a 115 wRC+ in 56 major league PAs, along with 0.4 fWAR (that’s inappropriately extrapolated to over 4/600), so he has that going for him, which is nice.

What went wrong?

Guthrie went unclaimed on waivers after the Braves designated him for assignment in August. He also managed just an 86 wRC+ in Gwinnett in over 200 PAs, which is probably his current biggest roadblock to playing time or interest.

2024 Outlook

Guthrie will turn 28 in December. His ability to play all three outfield spots reasonably well will most likely garner him a look somewhere in the spring, but there are guys with better Triple-A track records at young ages that will get a longer look first.