Braves sign Danny Young

The Braves announced Tuesday morning that they have signed a left-handed reliever Danny Young to a one-year Major League contract. It’s a split deal, with the 31-year-old being paid at different rates for the time he spent in the majors versus the time he spent in the minors. Young, a Dynamic Sports Group client, will be named to Atlanta’s 40-man roster. He is paid at a rate of $925,000 in the majors, MLBTR has learned.

This will be Young’s second stint in Atlanta. He also spent the 2023 season with the Braves organization, pitching 8 1/3 stellar innings in the majors and wrestling in 15 2/3 minor league frames. Injuries limited his time on the field that year, and will continue to do so in 2026. Young has pitched well out of the Mets’ bullpen the past two seasons, but underwent Tommy John surgery last May. By signing in Atlanta, he will reunite with Jeremy Hefner – his pitching coach with the Mets who left and took the same title with the Braves.

Young will open the ’26 season on the injured list as he completes rehab from that Tommy John procedure. A source tells MLBTR he started pitching last month and is targeting a return to game action before the All-Star break.

Young pitched in parts of four Major League seasons. He has totaled 60 2/3 innings in that time and posted a 4.01 earned run average with much more intriguing stats: 29% strikeout rate, 9.3% walk rate, 53.3% ground-ball rate. Stats like SIERA (3.02) and FIP (3.23) indicate he’s doing much better than his ERA would indicate, which isn’t a surprise considering his solid rate stats but an inflated .344 average on balls in play.

Once spring training begins, Young will most likely be moved to the 60-day IL to open up a spot on the 40-man roster. If Atlanta needs that spot sooner, they can put him on waivers this offseason. The salary terms could leave Young unclaimed, and while he would have the right to decline an outright assignment in favor of free agency, it would mean forfeiting the guaranteed money on his split Major League and Minor League salaries.

If Young remains on the 40-man, 60-day injured list until his activation, he will give Atlanta another left-handed option in a bullpen that already includes Dylan Lee And Aaron Bummer. Lefties without options Dylan Dodd And Joey Wentz are also currently being signed in bullpen spots.

Should Young return to form, he is a potential long-term piece in Atlanta’s pen. He enters the 2026 season with just 1,160 years of major league service, meaning he could be controlled for another five seasons — through 2030. Obviously, there’s a long way to go before that long-term control comes into play, but the fact that the Braves immediately placed him on the 40-man roster suggests there’s an openness to bringing Young into the mix beyond the current season if he performs well; Notably, Bummer is a free agent after the 2026 campaign.