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Sean Murphy

Braves Activate Sean Murphy, Designate Chadwick Tromp

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The Braves announced that catcher Sean Murphy has been activated from the 10-day injured list.  Fellow backstop Chadwick Tromp was designated for assignment to create space on Murphy on the active roster.

The moves are surprising on a couple of levels, firstly because Murphy played only three games during his Triple-A rehab assignment.  Murphy was expected to spend the full nine innings behind the plate in another Triple-A game today and then likely get activated from the IL prior to Tuesday’s game with the Phillies, but the Braves instead opted to bring Murphy back a little early.

Murphy suffered a cracked left rib after he was hit by a pitch during a Spring Training game at the start of March.  Given a 4-6 week recovery timeline, Murphy’s return falls squarely within that timeframe, so the fact that the Braves felt confident enough to forego Murphy’s last rehab game is a good sign that the catcher is back to full health.

Now entering his third season in Atlanta, Murphy is looking to bounce back from a dreadful 2024 campaign.  Murphy was an All-Star in 2023, but an early-season oblique injury cost him most of the first two months of the 2024 season, and he never really got on track, leading to a .193/.284/.352 slash line over 264 plate appearances.  The catcher’s hopes of a rebound year were then delayed by his rib injury, though he’ll end up missing only the first nine games of the Braves’ season.

Murphy hasn’t missed much, as the Braves are a dismal 1-8 over their first nine games  Most of Atlanta’s starting lineup has gotten off to a cold start, so there’s an even greater need for Murphy to regain his 2023 form.

It appears as though the club will keep Drake Baldwin on the big league roster as Murphy’s backup, which is the other unexpected element of today’s news.  Indications were that Baldwin would optioned back to Triple-A in order to get more regular playing time.  Instead, the Braves chose to DFA Tromp, who is out of minor league options and must clear waivers in order for the Braves to move him to the minors.

Baldwin is hitting only .154/.241/.192 over his first 29 Major League plate appearances, so it isn’t as if the top prospect is forcing his way into continued playing time.  It could be that the Braves plan to somewhat ease Murphy back into regular duty, thus leaving the door open for Baldwin to still get a good chunk of at-bats and try to acclimate himself against big league pitching.

Tromp has appeared in 28 games for the Braves since the start of the 2022 season, getting some spot duty in place of other catchers like Murphy, Travis d’Arnaud, and William Contreras.  If Tromp clears waivers, he has the right to reject an outright assignment and elect free agency, since he has previously been outrighted in his career.  It is possible he could explore other opportunities on the open market, but Tromp’s lack of minor league options somewhat limits his appeal to other teams looking for catching depth.  The Braves have another veteran in Sandy Leon at Triple-A and just acquired Jason Delay earlier this week in a trade, so the club could be ready to move on from Tromp entirely.

Braves Notes: Strider, Murphy, Allen

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It’s been a tough start to the season for the Braves, who only won their first game of the season last night. On top of their struggles in the standings, the lineup lost Jurickson Profar when he was hit with an 80-game suspension for a positive PED test while the rotation will be without right-hander Reynaldo Lopez for the foreseeable future as the hurler is scheduled to undergo shoulder surgery. Brutal as the start of the season has been for fans in Atlanta, however, there is light at the end of the tunnel. MLB.com notes not only that right-hander Spencer Strider is scheduled to make a rehab start at Triple-A this coming Thursday, but that it could be his final outing before he returns to the majors.

A healthy and effective return to the big league rotation would be a game changer for the Braves, particularly after Lopez’s recent injury. While reigning AL Cy Young award winner Chris Sale and young righty Spencer Schwellenbach are both excellent starters, beyond that duo the club is currently relying on converted reliever Grant Holmes and a pair of youngsters with hit-or-miss track records as big leaguers in AJ Smith-Shawver and Bryce Elder. A more established pitcher would be very welcome, and Strider is more than simply established after he finished as the runner-up in NL Rookie of the Year voting in 2022 before earning an All-Star appearance and a fourth-place finish in NL Cy Young award voting the following season.

Strider’s career 3.47 ERA is merely above-average (123 ERA+), but it belies his otherworldly 36.9% strikeout rate and 2.56 FIP, both of which place him among the very best pitchers in the entire sport. It would be unreasonable to assume that Strider will be able to provide that peak production this year given the number of players who have struggled while shaking off the rust of a long layoff. Nonetheless, even a somewhat diminished Strider is likely a front-of-the-rotation caliber, and the hurler’s 46.7% strikeout rate and 1.08 ERA through two rehab outings certainly don’t reveal any obvious signs of rust.

Strider isn’t the only notable player who could be returning to the roster soon for Atlanta. Catcher Sean Murphy is scheduled to make a nine-inning rehab appearance at Triple-A tomorrow. According to Bowman, that could be his final rehab outing if all goes well, with Murphy returning to the Atlanta lineup on Tuesday against the Phillies. It would be a huge boost to the Braves if Murphy were able to return so quickly after suffering a fractured rib last month. While his 2024 season was derailed by injury and saw him struggle when healthy enough to take the field, Murphy is not far removed from being considered the game’s best catcher and would be a huge boost to a struggling Atlanta lineup if he were to hit to even his career .233/.329/.429 slash line, to say nothing of the star-level offense he posted during the 2022 and ’23 seasons.

The return of Murphy to the lineup will likely spell the end of top catching prospect Drake Baldwin’s first stint in the big leagues, as he’s gone just 2-for-22 with three walks and five strikeouts through six games in the majors. While that’s not a sample size worth drawing any conclusions from, it would hardly be a shock if the club decided Baldwin was best served getting regular at-bats at Triple-A and opted to use Chadwick Tromp as their backup catcher going forward. With that being said, the club did recently add catcher Jason Delay to their 40-man roster in a trade with the Pirates and could therefore designate Tromp for assignment and still have a third catcher in the fold even if he were to depart via waivers or free agency. That could at least leave the door cracked open for Baldwin to backup Murphy in a larger role similar to the one Travis d’Arnaud held last year.

In other Braves news, The Athletic’s David O’Brien recently suggested that there could be a shakeup at shortstop coming down the pipeline for the club. Nick Allen was initially acquired to serve as a bench bat, but he’s hit a solid .333/.375/.400 so far while playing strong defense to this early point in the regular season. That strong early showing in conjunction with a lackluster spring from Orlando Arcia and his dreadful (2-for-13 with five strikeouts) start to the season could create an opening for Allen to seize a larger role with the club, particularly if the club’s early season struggles continue for longer than the season’s first week.

NL Injury Notes: Realmuto, Turner, Suarez, Abbott, Murphy, Freeman

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X-rays were negative on J.T. Realmuto’s left foot after he fouled a ball off himself in Saturday’s 11-6 win over the Nationals.  The Phillies took Realmuto out of the game, and the catcher also didn’t play today “more a precaution than anything,” manager Rob Thomson told reporters (including Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer).  Realmuto will likely be back in action tomorrow when the Phillies have their home opener, though Trea Turner could miss a third straight game as he recovers from back spasms.  Thomson said Turner was available off the bench today and might play Monday, though the Phils’ off-day on Tuesday would allow Turner to get a full four days of recovery time if he is held out of Monday’s lineup.

In other Phillies injury news, Ranger Suarez threw a 26-pitch bullpen session on Saturday, and an up-and-down bullpen is now slated for Tuesday.  If all goes well, Lauber writes that Suarez will make at least one minor league rehab start before being activated from the 15-day injured list.  Suarez was bothered by a bad back during Spring Training, and the Phils decided to put him on the IL to give him more time to heal up and them finish his spring preparations in advance of his 2025 debut.

More injury updates from around the National League…

  • Speaking of pitchers on the 15-day IL, the Reds told reporters (including Gordon Wittenmyer of the Cincinnati Enquirer) that southpaw Andrew Abbott will throw his first rehab start with Triple-A Louisville on Tuesday.  Abbott is slated for another outing on April 6, and a decision will then be made about whether or not he might be activated onto the Reds’ roster.  A shoulder strain ended Abbott’s 2024 season in late August, and recovering from that strain set Abbott back in his usual offseason work, so the Reds opted to slowly ramp the left-hander up in Spring Training.  If all goes well, Abbott should line up to make his 2025 debut on April 11 or 12, depending on how Cincinnati sets up its pitching staff.
  • Braves catcher Sean Murphy will also probably be starting a minor league rehab assignment this week, as MLB.com’s Mark Bowman writes that Murphy will likely take the field for the Braves’ A-level affiliate on Friday.  Murphy cracked a rib after he was hit by a pitch during a Spring Training game in early March, and we’ve already hit the lower end of the initial 4-6 week recovery timeline.  Still, Murphy appears to be making good enough progress that a return to Atlanta’s lineup should be feasible by mid-April.
  • Tyler Freeman left today’s game with a bruised left wrist after he was hit by a Taj Bradley pitch, but x-rays were negative, MLB.com’s Thomas Harding writes.  Freeman might be well enough to return to the Rockies’ lineup tomorrow, though since Colorado doesn’t play on Tuesday, this is another situation where a player with a minor injury might simply get an extra day to fully heal.

Poll: Will The Braves Add A Catcher?

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At the outset of the offseason, the Braves made a surprising move to decline their club option on veteran catcher Travis d’Arnaud despite prior indications being that they’d planned to exercise the option. Things turned out just fine for d’Arnaud, who signed a two-year deal with the Angels shortly thereafter, but the decision came back to bite Atlanta when starting catcher Sean Murphy suffered a cracked rib that will keep him out of action through at least the middle of April.

When Murphy missed time due to an oblique issue last year, d’Arnaud was there to step in as a capable regular option. This year, they’ll have no such ready-made answer locked and loaded on the roster. That’s not to say the club has no internal options; youngster Drake Baldwin is a well-regarded prospect who already seemed likely to make his MLB debut at some point this year, and Chadwick Tromp was already in line to make the roster as the club’s backup catcher. Baldwin has raked this spring to the tune of a .368/.520/.474 slash line, and perhaps that’s enough to convince Atlanta brass to give him the reins for the start of the season while Murphy recovers.

However, it’s hardly a reliable solution to the issue. Baldwin has yet to take a major league at-bat, and he struggled offensively at the Double-A level just last year before turning his season around upon his promotion to Triple-A. And if Baldwin proves unprepared to handle the big leagues, Tromp isn’t a viable starting option. The soon to be 30-year-old backstop has just 59 games and 156 plate appearances under his belt over parts of five seasons in the majors. In that time, he’s hit just .232/.237/.397 with a wRC+ of 66. While it’s not impossible to imagine more regular playing time in the majors allowing Tromp to perform better, 47 catchers produced more offense that Tromp’s career numbers across at least 100 plate appearances in the majors last year.

The Braves do have a pair of non-roster invitees in camp who could step in, but neither inspires confidence. Sandy Leon didn’t play in the majors at all last year, last had even 100 plate appearances in a season back in 2021, and is a career .208/.276/.311 hitter. Fellow NRI Curt Casali has a somewhat stronger track record, having played at least 40 games in the majors every year since 2018 (excluding the 60-game 2020 season where he appeared in 31 games for the Reds), but hit just .194/.293/.250 for the Giants in 125 trips to the plate last year.

Given all of the uncertainty facing Atlanta, an external addition can’t be ruled out. It’s been reported that the club made an offer to Yasmani Grandal even prior to Murphy’s injury. While Grandal turned that deal down, it signals the club already had reservations about its catching depth and it’s at least possible that the sides could circle back to each other with Opening Day fast approaching and additional playing time having opened up for Grandal.

Other options on the free agent market are few and far between. James McCann and Yan Gomes remain unsigned, but other options could emerge in the coming days as veterans on minor league deals with other teams begin to get the opportunity to opt out and return to free agency.

Jorge Alfaro, Omar Narvaez, and Tucker Barnhart are among the veterans in camp with other clubs who could return to free agency if they don’t make their current club’s Opening Day roster. It’s also at least possible that a club with an excess of catching options on the 40-man roster like the Twins could either make one of their backstops available on waivers or via trade, though trades of particular note are quite rare at this stage of the calendar. While none of the options likely to be available are game changers, they could offer a higher floor than any of Atlanta’s current options and allow the club to avoid rushing Baldwin to the majors.

How do you think the Braves will approach the situation? Will they take Murphy’s injury as an opportunity to give Baldwin regular playing time and stand pat with their internal options, or will they instead look to upgrade over a potential tandem of Baldwin and Tromp by bringing in a more reliable veteran to help handle the pitching staff? Have your say in the poll below:

Sean Murphy Out Four To Six Weeks With Cracked Rib

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Braves catcher Sean Murphy has a cracked rib on the left side of his ribcage and will be out for the next four to six weeks, manager Brian Snitker announced this morning (link via Gabe Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution). He sustained the injury when he was hit by a pitch during a Grapefruit League game this past Friday.

The injury opens the door for top prospect Drake Baldwin to potentially make his big league debut on Opening Day, though Baldwin is not yet on the 40-man roster and will likely still need to earn the job with a nice showing in camp. Since Atlanta surprisingly declined Travis d’Arnaud’s option at the start of the offseason and let him walk in free agency, the other in-house options include Chadwick Tromp (who’s on the 40-man roster) and veteran non-roster invitees Curt Casali and Sandy Leon.

Murphy, 30, is entering his third season with the Braves and will miss the beginning of the season for a second consecutive year. An oblique strain suffered on Opening Day last year sent Murphy to the injured list on March 30 and sidelined him into late May. That was the first major league IL placement of Murphy’s career, but with the season set to open in just over three weeks, he’ll all but assuredly start the 2025 campaign with his second career IL stay.

The 2024 season was the worst of Murphy’s career. It clearly didn’t start on a high note with that early oblique injury, but upon activation from the injured list he didn’t hit anywhere near his prior standards, slashing just .193/.284/.352 in 264 plate appearances. He still smacked 10 homers and graded as a strong defender, but Murphy’s strikeout rate climbed to its highest point since 2021 (25.4%).

More damaging was a huge spike in both Murphy’s ground-ball rate (career-high 53.9%) and infield fly rate. Among the 324 players who tallied 250 plate appearances in 2024, only 12 hit a higher rate of grounders than Murphy. For a player ranked in the eighth percentile in Statcast’s average sprint speed, that’s clearly suboptimal. Beyond the influx of ground-balls, roughly one in six of Murphy’s fly-balls was a hapless pop-up to the infield. He entered the 2024 season with only 9% of his flies being of the infield variety (and just 3.8% in 2023).

Murphy’s struggles really date back to September of 2023. The first five months of his Braves tenure could scarcely have gone better. He slashed .271/.379/.520 with 20 homers in 383 plate appearances, making the All-Star team and looking every bit like the star catcher Atlanta envisioned when trading for and extending him. Murphy hit just .111/.273/.178 in 55 September plate appearances in ’23, but given his track record that seemed like little more than a late slump.

Perhaps that was indeed the case, but with Murphy’s rough 2024 season now tacked onto that poor finish the year prior, he’s running a pretty lengthy stretch of struggles at the plate. In his past 329 plate appearances — including ten in the playoffs — he’s lugging a .181/.280/.319 batting line.

Of course, any talk of Murphy’s recent struggles should mention that they’re short-lived relative to his longstanding all-around production. From the time of his 2019 debut through August 2023, Murphy hit .237/.333/.434 with premium defense. By measure of wRC+, he was 16% better than an average hitter at the plate, which is even more impressive for his position, as the average catcher in that span tended to be around 12% worse than average with the bat. From 2019-23, Murphy ranked third among all catchers in FanGraphs’ wins above replacement, trailing only J.T. Realmuto and (much more narrowly) Will Smith.

He’ll look to get back on track once he’s past this rib injury, but Murphy’s looming IL stint does give the aforementioned Baldwin an opportunity at his MLB debut. The 23-year-old is widely considered among the sport’s top 100 prospects. Atlanta’s third-round pick in 2022 split the 2024 season between Double-A and Triple-A, hitting a combined .276/.370/.423 with 16 homers, a 13.1% walk rate and a 17.2% strikeout rate. He’s not considered the super-premium defender that Murphy is, but scouting reports have credited him with improving defense. Baseball America credits his ability to manage a pitching staff as a particular plus element of his defensive game.

The Braves aren’t going to want to have Baldwin up on the big league roster without regular at-bats available to him. It’s possible that he hits well enough this spring to break camp and then forces the issue further by getting out to a hot start in the majors. In that scenario, perhaps Murphy and Baldwin could shoulder a roughly even split of the workload behind the plate. That’d keep both fresh and would mirror many other catching situations around the league, as several clubs have moved away from one iron man catcher and a seldom-used backup (as was more common in prior generations). If Baldwin struggles, though, he could always be sent to Triple-A for further development. He’s still less than three years from being drafted, after all, and has all of 141 games above A-ball under his belt.

The Braves have Murphy signed at $15MM per season through 2028, plus a club option over the former All-Star’s 2029 campaign. Baldwin has yet to debut, meaning he has six years of club control — or nearly seven, if the team keeps him in the minors for more than a couple of weeks in 2025 but bring him to the majors for the remainder of the year.

Braves Designate Joey Wendle For Assignment

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The Braves announced a series of roster moves today, reinstating catcher Sean Murphy from the injured list and recalling outfielder J.P. Martínez. In corresponding moves, outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. was placed on the 10-day injured list and infielder Joey Wendle was designated for assignment.

Wendle, 34, was just signed three days ago to serve as a depth infielder for the club. However, Atlanta was delivered a devastating blow yesterday when Acuña tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He will undergo surgery and miss the remainder of the 2024 season.

With Acuña out of the picture, Atlanta was left with just Michael Harris II, Jarred Kelenic and Adam Duvall for the outfield. They have recalled Martínez today to give them a fourth outfielder, which quickly nudged Wendle off the roster shortly after being added.

Atlanta will now have a week to trade Wendle or pass him through waivers. The Mets are on the hook for the majority of his $2MM salary since they released him last week. That means any club that brings him aboard would only have to pay the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with that amount subtracted from what the Mets pay.

Wendle has had some good years as a solid bat who can competently play multiple positions, but he’s been in a rough skid at the plate for a while now. He hit just .259/.297/.360 in 2022 for a wRC+ of 84 and has been even worse since then. Dating back to the start of 2023, he’s hit .213/.247/.300 for a wRC+ of just 47.

But he’s still capable of bouncing around the diamond, with experience at the three infield positions to the left of first base and the outfield corners. Even without much offensive output, he’s capable of being a glove-first bench piece. He also hit .275/.330/.416 from 2017 to 2021, 106 wRC+, which could lend some hope to a bounceback at the plate.

For the moment, Atlanta’s roster depth is tenuous and it wouldn’t be a surprise if further moves were coming. Murphy’s activation gives the club three catchers, alongside Travis d’Arnaud and Chadwick Tromp. The club could have optioned Tromp to the minors but perhaps felt that would have left them thin behind the plate. Murphy is just returned from missing around two months due to an oblique strain while d’Arnaud missed some time this week after taking a foul ball to the mask and experiencing some dizziness. Perhaps they opted to keep Tromp around while they make sure both Murphy and d’Arnaud are healthy enough to play regularly.

In the meantime, that leaves them with no real backup infielder. Austin Riley hasn’t played in about two weeks due to some side soreness but the club hasn’t placed him on the injured list. That has forced Zack Short to step in as the regular third baseman. As of now, Atlanta’s bench consists of Riley, two catchers and one outfielder, at least until Riley is able to return. Perhaps Tromp will be optioned out for another infielder shortly, or Riley will return to the lineup and nudge Short back to the bench.

How the club decides to play the outfield will also be interesting to monitor. Kelenic and Duvall have been in a platoon this year, since Kelenic is a lefty who hits better against righties and Duvall is the opposite. Kelenic has hit .220/.298/.401 against righties in his career but just .189/.254/.309 against lefties, leading to respective wRC+ numbers of 96 and 60. Duvall has hit .235/.307/.474 against southpaws and .230/.285/.468 otherwise, producing respective wRC+ tallies of 104 and 95. With Acuña’s injury, they will likely give regular playing time to those two, with Martínez in the fourth outfielder role.

The 28-year-old Martínez was acquired from the Rangers in January. He has a line of .265/.337/.394 in Triple-A this year, 90 wRC+, stealing 14 bases in 20 tries. Double-digit steal totals have been a regular feature for him for a long time, including 41 in the minors last year. He also hit .298/.418/.543 in Triple-A last year, for a 133 wRC+, but hasn’t maintained that here in 2024. Like Kelenic, Martínez hits from the left side and has been better against righties this year. He has a .260/.348/.415 line against righties and .277/.306/.340 against southpaws this season.

Braves Notes: Riley, D’Arnaud, Murphy

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Braves third baseman Austin Riley hasn’t taken the field for the club since Sunday’s game against the Mets due to what was described as left side tightness at the time. While he’s spent nearly a week out of commission at this point, he may still be days away from returning to the lineup. The 27-year-old told reporters (including Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution) that he has yet to resume swinging a bat since he first suffered the injury, which he added that the Braves’ medical staff later termed intercostal inflammation. Per Toscano, Riley did not commit to returning to the starting lineup in time for the opening game of the club’s three-game set against the Cubs in Chicago, which begins on Tuesday.

Should Riley miss Tuesday’s game, he’ll have been out of commission for nine days at that point. Such a lengthy absence would make the club’s decision not to put the slugger on the injured list, which comes with a minimum stay of ten days, a strange one. Even so, Riley indicated that the club has not discussed the possibility of an IL trip with him. IL trips can only be backdated a maximum of three days, meaning that Riley would have to miss at least a week from the day he’s placed on the shelf before he can return.

Manager Brian Snitker also addressed Riley’s absence with reporters today, telling David O’Brien of The Athletic that the club will have to consider a trip to the shelf for Riley if the soreness he’s feeling doesn’t improve in the coming days. O’Brien added that, per Snitker, the club’s hesitance to place Riley on the shelf to this point stems in part from a lack of strong candidates to replace Riley on the roster in the upper levels of the organization. The only position players currently on the 40-man at Triple-A are outfielders Forrest Wall and J.P. Martinez.

While the club turned to utilityman David Fletcher earlier this season to fill in on the bench, Fletcher is no longer on the 40-man roster and is dealing with off-the-field issues regarding reported illegal bets placed on sports other than baseball during his time in Anaheim. That could leave veteran utilityman Leury Garcia as the club’s best option to fill in for Riley should he end up heading for the injured list. Garcia struggled to a brutal .210/.233/.267 slash line in his last taste of big league action back in 2022, when he appeared in 97 games for the White Sox. Despite those abysmal numbers, Garcia has seen some success at Triple-A with the Braves this year, posting a solid 113 wRC+ in 116 trips to the plate.

Adding to the club’s injury woes is the absence of catcher Travis d’Arnaud, who exited yesterday’s game against the Padres due to dizziness after a foul ball struck his face mask. Braves fans received some good news regarding the veteran catcher today, however, as MLB.com’s Mark Bowman relayed that the 35-year-old is feeling much better today, even as he’s been held out of the starting lineup for tonight’s game. Bowman added that d’Arnaud is available to be used on an emergency basis over the next two days and that, as long as d’Arnaud’s improvement continues, he could return to the lineup for the series finale against San Diego on Monday. In the meantime, the Braves will lean on Chadwick Tromp to cover for d’Arnaud behind the plate.

After being demoted to the role of a backup in deference to Sean Murphy last year, d’Arnaud has resumed regular catching duties for Atlanta this season since Sean Murphy was placed on the injured list with an oblique strain just one game into the 2024 campaign. He’s made the most of the additional playing time to this point, hitting an excellent .255/.336/.500 with five home runs in 116 trips to the plate. That being said, it seems as though Murphy could be nearing a return to action in Atlanta in the near future. MLB.com’s Injury Tracker notes that the Braves are currently planning for Murphy has looked good in offensive and defensive drills during his recovery and is set to begin a rehab assignment during this upcoming week. Widely regarded as among the top catchers in baseball on both sides of the ball, the return of Murphy figures to offer a huge boost to the Braves as they head into the summer 3.5 games behind the Phillies for the NL East crown despite a strong 26-15 record.

NL East Notes: Robles, Bohm, Murphy

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Nationals center fielder Victor Robles has played just four games this season due to a hamstring strain he suffered in early April, and manager Dave Martinez told reporters (per MLB.com’s Injury Tracker) on Friday that he’s “running really well” in his rehab assignment, indicating he remains on track for a return at some point this month.

Perhaps more notably, Martinez indicated that Robles isn’t likely to take back the starting job in center field upon his return. 24-year-old youngster Jacob Young has made a strong impression as a regular in Robles’s absence, with a .311/.354/.378 slash line in 81 trips to the plate. That production is good for a 113 wRC+, and Young has also gone 12-for-13 on the basepaths. That type of offensive production would be hard for the club to part with, but its nonetheless surprising that the Nationals don’t plan to return Robles, a former consensus top-5 prospect in the sport who has patrolled the position for eight seasons, to his usual spot in the lineup.

With Young seemingly taking over as the regular center fielder long term, Martinez noted that Robles will still play center field on occasion but “could play some right field as well.” The club has relied on Eddie Rosario and Alex Call in right field as of late, with the veteran Rosario struggling badly to an eye-popping -10 wRC+ to this point in the season that indicates he’s been 110% worse than league average at the plate. Call has impressed with five hits and three walks in 21 trips to the plate this season, but that production has come across just seven games at the big league level.

More from around the NL East…

  • The Phillies suffered a major injury scare last night when third baseman Alec Bohm exited the club’s win over the Giants with right hip tightness. The move was labeled precautionary by manager Rob Thomson (as noted by Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Inquirer) in the aftermath of yesterday’s game and Bohm himself indicated to reporters (including Coffey) that he isn’t particularly concerned about the issue. That Bohm seemingly won’t require a trip to the injured list is surely a massive relief for Phillies fans, as the club lost Trea Turner to the shelf yesterday and he had been the club’s second best hitter behind Bohm this year. MLBTR’s Darragh McDonald recently took a look at Bohm’s hot start this season, during which he’s hit a whopping .364/.435/.579 in 138 trips to the plate.
  • Braves backstop Sean Murphy has been ramping up baseball activities as he rehabs an oblique injury that sidelined him during the first game of the season back in March. Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Murphy had already been ramping up his throwing from behind the plate and caught a few bullpen sessions but has now progressed to swinging the bat, starting with him hitting off a tee during the club’s road trip to Seattle last week. The return of Murphy would surely be a major boost to Atlanta, as the 29-year-old has emerged as one of the best catchers in the sport in recent seasons. That said, veteran Travis d’Arnaud has done exceptionally well in Murphy’s absence, slashing an incredible .269/.341/.564 with a whopping five home runs in just 88 trips to the plate this season.

Braves Place Sean Murphy On Injured List Due To Oblique Injury

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TODAY: The Braves officially announced Murphy’s placement on the 10-day IL, due to a strained left oblique.  Tromp’s contract was officially selected to the big league roster.

MARCH 29: Braves catcher Sean Murphy departed today’s game with an oblique issue and the club informed reporters after the game that the backstop will go on the injured list. Mark Bowman of MLB.com was among those to relay the news. David O’Brien of The Athletic relays that Chadwick Tromp will be called up. Tromp is not currently on the 40-man and will need to be added, though Atlanta has multiple vacancies there.

The severity of the issue isn’t yet known but it will be a notable one for Atlanta, as Murphy is one of the better backstops in the league. He hit 21 home runs last year and drew walks in 11.2% of his plate appearances. That led to a batting line of .251/.365/.478, which translates to a wRC+ of 129. He’s also considered a strong defender and FanGraphs considered him to be worth 4.2 wins above replacement on the year. That was the fifth-highest tally among catchers, but the four above him all played at least 18 more games than Murphy did.

The reason Murphy played just 108 wasn’t due to injury, but the club splitting the catching playing time between him and Travis d’Arnaud. With Murphy now out, d’Arnaud will have to step up and take on a larger role for at least the next 10 days but perhaps longer.

As far as backup catchers go, few clubs could boast one as good as d’Arnaud, but he’s clearly a drop-off from Murphy. d’Arnaud hit 11 home runs in 292 plate appearances last year but his .225/.288/.397 batting line translated to a wRC+ of 83. He has been in better form in the past, as recently as 2022, when he hit .268/.319/.472 for a wRC+ of 120.

The club is loaded with talent but those are the only two catchers on the 40-man roster right now. d’Arnaud is now 35 years old and has had his share of injury woes over the years, including multiple concussions, Tommy John surgery, a thumb sprain, a broken finger and a strained rotator cuff. While Atlanta will still be a great team, Murphy is arguably the player on the roster whose absence would make the most negative impact.

Tromp, 29, has a bit of major league experience. He’s been in the big leagues in each of the past four years but taken just 102 plate appearances in 40 games over that time. His career batting line of .222/.225/.414 translates to a wRC+ of 65. In Triple-A over the past three years, he’s hit .229/.299/.399 for a wRC+ of 76. He was non-tendered by Atlanta after last season but re-signed on a minor league deal. As mentioned, he’ll need a 40-man spot but Atlanta has plenty of spots open.

Atlanta will roll with that combination for the time being but could also perhaps look around the league for external additions, as various roster cuts have been made in recent days with the season starting. Eric Haase was designated for assignment by the Brewers yesterday, Alí Sánchez by the Pirates and Cooper Hummel by the Giants. It’s also possible a small trade could be had, perhaps involving someone like Joey Bart of the Giants. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle recently took a look at how Bart has a tenuous grasp on his roster spot in San Francisco.

Regardless of how things play out, Atlanta won’t find anyone as good as Murphy. Whatever plans they cobble together in the weeks to come, they will be hoping for him to get healthy as quickly as possible and rejoin the club.

AL Notes: Astros, Red Sox, Murphy, Tigers

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The Astros figure to add injured right-handers Lance McCullers Jr. and Luis Garcia back into their rotation mix in 2024, though The Athletic’s Chandler Rome notes that, with neither player expected to be ready for Opening Day next season, rookie right-handers J.P. France and Hunter Brown could have opportunities to crack the rotation again headed into Spring Training. The club figures to have Justin Verlander, Framber Valdez, Cristian Javier, and Jose Urquidy locked into four spots in the rotation, but that would leave an opening for either France or Brown, with the possibility of both if the club decides to utilize a six-man rotation to open the season.

That being said, Rome also suggests other roles for France and Brown are possible next season. In addition to noting that the Astros would benefit from the addition of a veteran start who could provide “stability” to a rotation that suffered from uneven performances in 2023, Rome also puts forth that right-hander Spencer Arrighetti could factor into the club’s rotation mix as soon as the start of next season. Arighetti, the club’s #3 prospect and top pitching prospect per MLB Pipeline, posted a 4.40 ERA in 124 2/3 innings of work split between Double- and Triple-A in 2023, his age-23 campaign.

With so many possible moving pieces, it’s likely that both Brown and France will be used in roles beyond the starting rotation, at least at some point during the 2024 season. France, in particular, is suggested by Rome as a likely candidate for a swing role that would see him move both in and out of the club’s rotation mix as necessary throughout the year. Brown, on the other hand, seems to have a firmer grip on a potential rotation spot, though Rome adds that Brown’s struggles later in the season (including a 6.72 ERA in his final 18 appearances) highlighted the work Brown still has left to do before he can be the mid-rotation arm the Astros hope he can become.

More from the American League…

  • The Red Sox utilized a catching tandem of Connor Wong and Reese McGuire in 2023 to decent effect, with Wong in particular flashing quality glovework behind the plate as the club’s regular starter. Though MassLive’s Chris Cotillo indicates that an addition behind the plate isn’t a priority for Boston after adding top prospect Kyle Teel with their first-round pick in the 2023 draft, he does make note of the fact that Boston was aggressive in their attempts to upgrade behind the plate last offseason. Cotillo goes on to report that the Red Sox “made a serious run” at a trade with the Athletics to acquire All-Star catcher Sean Murphy, making what Cotillo describes as a “competitive” offer to the A’s before they ultimately settled on a three-team deal with the Braves and Brewers to send Murphy to Atlanta. The Red Sox were among the many known suitors for Murphy last offseason, though the A’s set their asking price rather high, with right-hander Brayan Bello’s name floated in the rumor mill as a potential return. That being said, Boston’s level of interest appears to have been greater than was initially reported, given the new information that Boston made a formal offer for Murphy’s services.
  • Although the Tigers have one clear big league catching option in Jake Rogers, Chris McCosky of The Detroit News suggests that finding a suitable backup for Rogers is a primary question for the club as they head into the offseason. While McCosky notes that the club holds a $3.5MM team option over Carson Kelly, he adds that there’s “no indication” as to whether or not the club will ultimately pick up that option. If Kelly is not retained, the club’s top options to back up Rogers internally would be Dillon Dingler and Donny Sands. Dingler enjoyed something of a breakout season at age 24 this year slashing .256/.361/.478 across three levels of the minors, though his .202/.266/.384 showing in 26 games at the Triple-A level left something to be desired. Sands, meanwhile, struggled to a .230/.318/.360 slash line alongside defensive struggles in limited action last season but has a solid offensive track record at Triple-A from his time with the Yankees and Phillies. Per McCosky, the decision on Kelly’s option could come down to the readiness of Dingler for a major league role in 2024.
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