It doesn’t take much to expose a positional depth issue and the Atlanta Braves now have a big problem at catcher.
During April, the Atlanta Braves managed to overcome a big injury problem when their two best center field options both ended up on the Injured List simultaneously.
Of course, the reason they did so is because Guillermo Heredia stepped in and hit .300 for 40 AB with an OPS of 1.004. That was welcomed, but it’s also not really normal to see.
Unfortunately, there’s now a repeat of this same kind of double-injury situation that’s happening at a position even more critical than CF.
The #Braves today recalled William Contreras to Atlanta & selected the contract of Jeff Mathis. To make room on the active roster, the club placed Travis d’Arnaud on the 60-day IL with a left thumb sprain & placed Alex Jackson on the 10-day IL with a strained left hamstring.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) May 2, 2021
Let’s start with a discussion about Alex Jackson. There’s more than a 50/50 chance that he was destined for a mysterious injury regardless of anything else going on.
Fact is, other than carrying the glove for Huascar Ynoa‘s starts, Jackson’s presence has just not been working for the Braves. Even his defensive contributions have been waning over the past couple of appearances, and that had been the only thing that merited his availability as a major league catcher.
Offensively? A .043 batting average and a negative 26 OPS+ tells you all you need to know. He needed to be replaced and that’s now happened.
Atlanta Braves lose their best catcher for a while
Travis d’Arnaud’s situation is another issue altogether. You’ll note that he was not placed on the “regular” injured list… instead, the Braves immediately put him on the extended/60-day IL.
That means two things right away:
- We won’t see d’Arnaud back in action before July 1st as an absolute minimum
- Atlanta can add a new player to the 40-man roster “for free” since d’Arnaud no longer counts as one of the 40. That extra player — for now, at least — is Jeff Mathis.
As far as the diagnosis for d’Arnaud… not much is known yet, but short of a pitcher finding a torn UCL, this is a really quick instance of a player being shelved for so long.
Travis d’Arnaud is having more tests today on his left thumb, but the tests done late Saturday were enough to show it’s a significant injury that would require 60-day IL. #Braves
— David O'Brien (@DOBrienATL) May 2, 2021
Typically a General Manager will keep his options open in such situations by putting an injured player on the 10-day list and then just seeing how things progress. A player can always be moved from the 10-day to the 60-day IL without penalty and GM’s like to wait until they are forced to make a move before doing such things.
However, once you’re on the 60-day IL, you’re out for 60+ days… period. You’re committed. That suggests strongly that whatever the Atlanta medical staff saw was enough to declare with confidence that d’Arnaid’s injury is going to be a long-term concern.
In fact, while this is being speculated upon you truly can’t rule out the phrase “season-ending” in this discussion.
UPDATE VIA BRIAN SNITKER: d’Arnaud has a torn ligament in that left thumb that will require surgery to correct. Snitker expects him to be back before the end of the year, but that’s still (clearly) an unknown date at this point.
d’Arnaud had been an early bright spot in the midst of a dark lineup, but has come back to the pack offensively in recent weeks. In fact, he’s down to a .220 average and a 57 OPS+, and that is definitely contributing to the Braves’ offensive woes.
So now Atlanta brings in William Contreras, easily the best offensive choice in the organization, and Jeff Mathis will have his ear to provide veteran tutelage.
Whether Atlanta now looks outside the organization to bolster the position — at least for the AAA level — isn’t known yet, but the likelihood is fairly strong.
Regardless: this news is a big blow to the team, and it’s one that will continue to have ramifications into the Summer months.