An veteran MLB catcher is set to have a lot of ice packs in his future.
Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker announced to reporters on Monday that catcher Sean Murphy has a cracked rib. As a result, Murphy will be out for the next four-to-six weeks, sidelining him through the beginning of the 2025 MLB season.
The righty-hitting Murphy suffered the injury during a spring training game on Friday against the Miami Marlins. In the fourth inning of the game, which Atlanta eventually won 7-2, Murphy got plunked by a 94-mph sinker from Miami’s William Kempner.
Murphy, 30, has been with the Braves for the last two seasons and was an All-Star with them in 2023. Also a Gold Glove winner behind the plate in 2021 with the Oakland Athletics, Murphy is coming off a down year offensively in which he hit .193 with 10 home runs and 25 RBIs in 72 games (having battled both elbow and oblique injuries).
Rib injuries are notoriously painful, and now Murphy will need a fairly significant amount of time to recover from his. With Murphy having projected as Atlanta’s starting catcher to begin the season, 23-year-old catching prospect Drake Baldwin is now a strong option to take his place. The Braves could throw some of their veteran catchers like Curt Casali (36), Chadwick Tromp (29), or Sandy Leon (35) into the mix as well.
An injury like this might not have been as big of a problem for the Braves last season given their catching depth. But the other well-known backstop that they had on their roster signed elsewhere in free agency this winter, so Atlanta may have to take more of a committee approach to filling in for the injured Murphy.
