The Atlanta Braves announced their corresponding move to the Opening Day injury to primary catcher Sean Murphy. Atlanta will call upon the same catcher they did when Murphy was sidelined with hamstring tightness last season.
Chadwick Tromp returns to Atlanta
The 29 year-old Chadwick Tromp is heading to Atlanta, and will serve as Travis d'Arnaud's backup while Murphy is on the mend. It's officially a 10-day injured list stint, but with how touchy oblique's can be the timetable will probably look closer to a month.
The #Braves today selected C Chadwick Tromp to the major league roster and placed C Sean Murphy on the 10-day injured list with a strained left oblique muscle.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) March 30, 2024
Catcher Chadwick Tromp was last in Atlanta and saw game action in May of 2023. Last year he totaled just 16 plate appearances, and recorded just two hits. On his career, Tromp sports a .222/.225/.414 slash line, with five career home runs in just under 100 at-bats.
Losing Murphy is obviously not ideal for the Braves, considering he's a top 3 catcher in baseball. However, if any team is equipped to handle this, the Braves would probably be ranked near the top. Veteran catcher Travis d'Arnaud could probably still be a full-time starter on more than a handful of teams in the league.
At 35 years of age, d'Arnaud is coming off a 2023 where he slashed .225/.288/.397, had a 83 wRC+, and 0.9 fWAR in 74 games. This was really considered a down year for Travis, as in 2022 he produced a 4 fWAR season.
There it is: Travis d'Arnaud mashes a two-run shot off Zack Wheeler, whose night is over. The Braves, down a run, will get the Phillies' bullpen. pic.twitter.com/8JY6exAxKF
— Justin Toscano (@JustinCToscano) October 10, 2023
The most important thing is d'Arnaud's trust with the pitching staff, which is really the primary focus with Murphy out. Any offense d'Arnaud and Tromp provides will be a bonus. Fans should expect d'Arnaud to get the brunt of the work, outside the occasional day game after a night game.
Unless the offensive production is egregiously bad from the catchers, these two will almost certainly be asked to hold the fort down until Murphy can return. As we get more updates on the severity of Murphy's injury, and a true timetable for his return, we will then pass them along here on the site.