Are the Atlanta Braves planning to go with a home-grown backup catcher?

Getting hints from the Atlanta Braves General Manager is tough, but what he doesn’t say can speak volumes.

On Sunday morning, Alex Anthopolous spoke to MLB Network Radio (Sirius/XM) about the signing of Marcell Ozuna and what might be next for his Atlanta Braves.

A snip of the interview — mostly the plans going forward — can be heard through twitter via this link:

The first takeaway was that the Ozuna contract was a help to the organization by back-loading the deal (via a $12 million first-year salary, thus saving $4 million).  This was designed to allow some additional headroom in the payroll for additional changes.

That led immediately to “what are the plans?” and Anthopoulos volunteered a road map, which included these (paraphrased) points:

• Payroll will be lower than last season… and he’s already spent most of what he has
• This Ozuna-generated extra room can be used now or in-season
• Would be open to adding a reliever
• Would like to improve bench and depth
• Just in case… if the DH rule actually happens, we want to be prepared (not expected)

So what’s missing here?  Any mention about a backup catcher. 

Atlanta Braves started 2020 with Rookies

Let’s circle back to last Summer when the 2020 season started.  Do you remember who caught the first five games of the year?

Alex Jackson and William Contreras.

Both players are still on the 40-man roster, and they — along with Travis d’Arnaud — are the only catchers on that list.

Perhaps with the taste of some big-league experience (and good performance), the Braves are going to hold a Spring competition to determine who wins that backup role?

That would be a way to save a few dollars — perhaps close to half a million, anyway — which doesn’t seem unreasonable given the difference in perceived performance between one of these rookies and a grizzled veteran backstop.

Sure: things could change if both players disappoint at North Port, but there’s always extra grizzled vet catchers waiting for a phone call, so it isn’t like the Braves would be looking for anything rare… the time between deciding to change it up and getting a new player would be about a day (maybe two, given a likely COVID test).

But while we’d figured previously that this position might be a higher priority for the club because of the offensive production that Atlanta catchers had been providing, it could be that Anthopoulos is willing to let this bench position slide for now… particularly if his priorities are for the bullpen and bench depth.

Disclaimer:  “bench depth” could still include a backup catcher, but those terms are usually separated given that catching is a specialty skill.

So maybe it’s time to see what these kids can really do?  Perhaps that’s the new plan.