Sources: Braves bringing familiar faces back to state of Georgia

Get excited, Braves fans. There are whispers (more like sonic booms, from what I'm hearing) that talks are in the advanced stages to bring multiple local Georgia kids home to their hometown team. The latest scoop out of an otherwise tightly sealed Atlanta front office has the Braves as the likely landing point for Tampa Bay Rays star outfielders Austin Meadows and Kyle Lewis. While nothing is finalized at the moment, I'm told that a deal could be imminent.

Meadows, who attended Grayson High School just east of Atlanta, is coming off a 4.0 WAR season with the Tampa Bay Rays which saw him hit 35 home runs. He signed an eight year contract extension in November of 2022 that will run through the 2027 season. The Braves will also posses two team options on Meadows for the 2028 and 2029 seasons. The Georgia product has been an All Star in Tampa Bay in each of the last three seasons and has totaled 18.7 WAR over the past four seasons of FTD's existence.

And then there is Kyle Lewis, the former first round selection of the Seattle Mariners out of Mercer University back in 2016. Another Georgia boy, Lewis grew up in Snellville, approximately 40 minutes east of Atlanta. He was worth 2.6 WAR in 2021 while playing full time, but took on more of a platoon role in Tampa Bay over the past two seasons. A strong clubhouse presence, Lewis comes with the ability to play all three outfield positions. He settled with an arbitrator for a salary of $880K earlier in the offseason and still has two more additional years of control.

We will update the story when we have more details.