Who Could Start at Shortstop for the Atlanta Braves in 2027?

The Atlanta Braves need a shortstop for 2027, and they have four options to get there, none of them perfect.

Atlanta finished 94-68, won the NL East and lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS. The core is intact, but shortstop is an open question heading into the offseason. Mauricio Dubón, Ha-Seong Kim, Jim Jarvis and a potential trade for Jeremy Peña from the Houston Astros are all in play.

Dubón is the obvious option. He played 153 games in 2026 and hit .276 with a .321 on-base percentage, .720 OPS, adding 73 RBI and 10 stolen bases. He is a reliable, versatile defender who can move around the field, which is exactly what makes him valuable and also exactly why locking him in as the everyday shortstop is limiting. He is more useful to Atlanta spread across positions than planted at one.

Kim is the wild card. The Braves signed him to a one-year, $20 million deal for 2026, and his season was wrecked by right middle-finger inflammation that held him to 51 games.

He hit .116 with a .359 OPS in 51 games, numbers that are hard to look at no matter the circumstances. He has a strong defensive track record at shortstop, and a bounce-back season is realistic if he stays on the field. The problem is his health has been the issue for two straight years, and betting on that for another year would not be a bright idea.

Jarvis is the main internal option and the cheapest one. In 38 games, he hit .207 with a .267 on-base percentage and a .297 slugging percentage. The Braves know what they have in him at this point, and asking him to carry the everyday shortstop job in 2027 would be a big ask.

Then there is Peña, who could take this team to another level. The 29-year-old hit .277 with 22 home runs, 56 RBI and an .802 OPS in 112 games for Houston in 2026. The Astros finished 81-81 and lost in the wild card round. Houston’s farm system ranks near the bottom of baseball.

There is a case to be made that they should be moving pieces and collecting prospects. There is no confirmed indication Houston is looking to deal him, but if they are not going to extend him anytime soon, they have to at least be willing to listen.

The Braves have the roster and the window to compete for a title. Settling shortstop with a real answer rather than a placeholder matters. Peña is the clearest upgrade. Everything else is a compromise.