The Atlanta Braves announced their list of non-roster invitees to spring training, and there was an interesting name on the list.

And if everything works out, it could be significantly impactful for the 2024 season.

The Atlanta Braves have signed former Houston Astros and Seattle Mariners reliever Ken Giles to a minor league deal. The signing includes an invite to spring training.

In their press release announcing the non-roster invitees, the organization notes Giles’ 2017 World Series championship with Houston.

In his career, Giles has a 14-18 record and 2.71 ERA with 115 saves across parts of 8 MLB seasons. He’s featured excellent strike throwing and swing & miss stuff, with a career 33.3% strikeout rate and a 7.8% walk rate, both better than MLB averages.

Giles, 33, is attempting a return from multiple arm injuries that have limited him to only 4.1 major league innings since the 2020 season, all with Seattle in 2022. He had Tommy John surgery that caused him to miss most of the 2020 and 2021 seasons, and has been in the minor leagues of both the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers as he’s attempted to return to a full-time MLB role.

Giles worked out at Arizona-based Terra Sports over the offseason for interested teams, with his fastball hovering between 93 and 96 mph. Apparently it was promising enough for Atlanta to extend him a minor league deal. He will make $1.75M if he makes the MLB roster, per reports.

Other signings announced via this release include former Cincinnati Reds infielder Alejo Lopez and former Kansas City Royals catcher Sebastian Rivero, both also invited to spring training.

MLB Network compares the Braves and the Dodgers.

Matt Vasgersian and Ron Darling sat down on MLB Network today as part of the MLB Hot Stove segment and they discussed which team looked better on paper, the Atlanta Braves or the Los Angeles Dodgers. It’s an argument that we are going to see a lot not only this year but for the near future. These teams finished as the No. 1 and No. 2 teams in the National League standings and have been at the top of the standings in the NL for years now.

During this offseason, the Dodgers made a splash by spending over $1 Billion to go out and get Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and more players to help bolster their roster. For the Braves, we went out and picked up a future Hall of Fame pitcher, Chris Sale, as well as Jarred Kelenic to help fill out an already loaded roster.

Matt Vasgersian is in agreement with Spencer Strider that “Despite what the Dodgers have done. I think soup to nuts, top to bottom, all 26, I give the Braves that award.” Darling was in agreement with Vasgersian. “I get to watch the Braves so often and from the top of that lineup to the bottom, they are as explosive as any lineup in baseball to go along with the Rangers, Dodgers, Houston, and other teams. But the Braves can do it in so many different ways.”

So when it comes to the batting lineups, the Braves matchup with the Dodgers as good as anyone in the MLB. Now onto the starting rotations. As I mentioned before, the Braves went out and picked up Chris Sale from Boston and the Dodgers picked up Ohtani, Yamamoto, and Glasnow. Ohtani will not be pitching next year due to injury, but he will star as the Dodgers designated hitter. If the Braves can get the Hall of Fame version of Chris Sale and not the injury prone version, I think Atlanta may have a better rotation than the Dodgers.