5. Travis d'Arnaud
We all love Travis d'Arnaud. He's been a wonderful addition to the Braves and we were all excited to see AA sign him to an extension this year. TDA and Sean Murphy make up the most formidable duo behind the plate in baseball. In team catcher production, the Braves are near the top in several key categories thanks to the contributions of Murphy and d'Arnaud.
Atlanta Braves catchers have driven in 107 runs and crushed 31 homers, both are tops in the National League. However, things have cooled off since the All-Star break.
Travis d'Arnaud has been two different players in the first and second halves of 2023. In the first half, he slashed .275/.349/,496. His sOPS+ was 130 prior to the star-studded respite. Since then, he has slashed .183/.221/.325 with just three homers. His sOPS+ is 46.
This is just a blip on the radar for TDA and we know he'll pull the nose up. However, there is no doubt that these numbers have been disappointing. The poor second-half performance has really roughed up his season numbers, despite the good first half. d'Arnaud now finds himself with a .231 batting average, a .289 on-base percentage, and a .414 slugging percentage. He has an 86 OPS+ with a 0.0 rWAR.
Hopefully, d'Arnaud can get his swing straightened out before the postseason!