The Braves currently have two very good catchers. If they still think they can win in the near future, that number needs to stay at two.
Dating back for as long as I can remember, one thing that has remained remarkably consistent about the Atlanta Braves throughout all this time that’s passed between the divisional dynasty of the 90s and the Aughts and their present-day position is the fact they’ve managed to maintain a high level of production from their catcher’s spot.
From the days of Greg Olson to Javy Lopez and Eddie Perez, from Brian McCann to Tyler Flowers and even the tail end of A.J. Pierzynski’s career. From Wild Bill Contreras and Travis d’Arnaud to the present-day dynamic duo of Sean Murphy and Drake Baldwin. Whether the Braves have been contenders or cellar-dwellers, the Braves have always been able to rely on their catcher’s position and they’ve somehow managed to continuously have some sort of strong presence at the backstop.
That’s to say that I’m personally pretty skeptical about the Braves potentially trading Sean Murphy. Usually I’ll wait until the end to make my point but I’m going to go ahead and make it right here: If the Braves still think they can win in 2026 and beyond, then they will be keeping Sean Murphy. As long as the Braves believe their title window is open then they won’t be in the business of getting rid of major league talent for prospects.
If they still think they’ll be contenders next season, then what we’re seeing now with Murphy and Baldwin alternating between catcher and designated hitter while carrying a third catcher will be their strategy going forward. It’s worked well for them so far, as the offense has certainly improved since they’ve decided to start using both of them in the lineup. Sure, it’s a short sample size but the early results lineup with the expectations that were in mind when this idea was being floated after Baldwin’s emergence as a star rookie.
However, my personal opinion is going to stop the speculation, as Mark Feinsand of MLB.com named Murphy as Atlanta’s trade candidate with the “biggest Buzz Factor.” Here’s Feinsand explaining his reasoning behind including Murphy:
…Although [Murphy]’s having a solid year in 2025, the emergence of Drake Baldwin has provided depth behind the plate.
Murphy is signed through 2028 for $15 million per year with a $15 million club option for 2029, making the 30-year-old an attractive trade chip for a disappointing Atlanta team without much to sell, though that deal could also happen after the season
Indeed, Feinsand also made the point that the Braves might end up trading Murphy at some point during the offseason. That’s a totally feasible scenario as well — if the Braves do decide to just focus on rebuilding their farm system and doing some sort of retool with an eye on the future, then that could be when we start seeing guys like Sean Murphy, Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris II potentially get moved. I’m not going to dismiss it as a possibility since again, I’m not exactly in the front office getting information from Alex Anthopoulos, himself. If they do go down that route this offseason, it’ll be understandable — Anthopoulos has been more “proactive” than “reactive” with his moves (with the mystifying exception of this past offseason’s inaction) so I’d imagine that if they do want to go for a rebuild, they won’t be waiting too long to go ahead and do it.
Photo by Matthew Grimes Jr./Atlanta Braves/Getty Images
With that being said the fact that they don’t plan on moving any players who are under team control for next season and beyond and also the fact that that’s still a decently strong core of players to have under contract, that’s what leads me to believe that the Braves will attempt to stay competitive for 2026. If there’s any inkling that the window is still open, the Braves are going to hold on to as many good players as they can, since they’ll still be seeing the World Series as a realistic goal.
If that is the case, then Sean Murphy will likely be staying and forming a duo with Drake Baldwin going forward, with one of the two becoming the primary catcher and the other maybe becoming the primary DH. Of course, we could see one of those rare baseball trades where both teams swap major league talent and it becomes sort of a “prove-it” deal for both teams but like I said, those types of trades are pretty rare nowadays. Again, if Murphy gets traded, it’ll be a sign of a rebuild/retool/re-whatever instead of them simply trying to go like-for-like with another team in a trade.
Plus, on top of all that, finding one good catcher is difficult and if you don’t believe me then you can ask a good chunk of teams across baseball because that is a very hard position to fortify. Just take a look at the current statistical leaderboards over at FanGraphs for catchers with at least 200 plate appearances so far this season. If you’ve got one catcher near the top of that leaderboard, you’re doing great. The Braves have two of the top 10 catchers in baseball right now according to fWAR.
The list of catchers who currently have produced over 1.0 in WAR this season only goes down to Baltimore’s Adley Rutschman in 17th place. Plain and simple, the Braves are in too good of a position with their catcher’s spot to willingly give it up in favor of unproven players — at least not while they still think that there’s a near-future that sees them as a real contender for the World Series.
So while I could certainly see the Braves picking up a decent haul for Sean Murphy (even if he’s 30 and it would be a long shot to see him return to the form he had in 2022 and 2023), it’s not a guarantee that any of the prospects in a potential deal would be worth as much in the future as Murphy is worth to them while they figure that they still have a shot at winning within the next couple of years. A Murphy trade is certainly enticing but unless the Braves are actively planning on a serious rebuild/retool, I don’t think that we’re going to see Murphy get moved.