There are a lot of moments that led to the Atlanta Braves disappointing 2025 season. But one of the biggest can be traced back to December 12, 2022.
Braves fans know this as the day they acquired Sean Murphy in a trade with the Athletics. The deal, which saw the Braves send William Contreras to the Milwaukee Brewers and a prospect package that included Kyle Muller, Freddy Tarnok, Royber Salina, Manny Piña, and Esteury Ruiz to the Athletics, preceded a six-year, $73 million contract extension that made Murphy part of a core that won the World Series back in 2021. But the Braves haven’t gotten a return on that investment.
With that in mind, Murphy has been skating on thin ice throughout the 2025 season and could be on his way to riding the bench as Atlanta plays out the final two months of the year.
Braves Catcher Sean Murphy Most Likely to Be Benched Over Final Two Months
There were reasons why Murphy was so attractive to the Braves. A former Gold Glove defender in 2021, Murphy appeared to be on the rise, hitting .250/.332/.426 with 18 homers and 66 RBI in his final season with the Athletics. He also had a great start to his Braves career, hitting .251/.365/.478 with 21 homers and 68 RBI in 108 games to earn his first All-Star appearance. But over the past two seasons, he hasn’t been the same player.
Injuries have been part of the reason as Murphy suffered a left oblique strain on Opening Day of the 2024 season. After missing two months, he continued to struggle, hitting .193/.284/.352 with 10 homers and 25 RBI in 72 games. The hope was that the offseason could help Murphy flush those struggles, but Murphy cracked his left rib when he was hit by a pitch during a Spring Training game in early March.
While Murphy has looked a little more like himself this season, hitting .224/.321/.473 with 16 homers and 42 RBI, the injury opened the door for top prospect Drake Baldwin to make his debut.
A third-round pick by the Braves in the 2022 MLB Draft, Baldwin has had a strong start to his career, hitting .279/.348/.459 with 11 homers and 41 RBI in 80 games. He’s also held his own behind the plate defensively, posting a plus-3 in defensive runs saved and is even in Baseball Savant’s fielding run value metric.
Between the two players, Baldwin appears to be the future at 24 years old. While rumors swirled around Murphy as the Braves fell out of contention, Atlanta had no intentions of dealing Murphy at the deadline according to Jon Morosi of FOX Sports, but those plans could change as Atlanta comes down the stretch.
Murphy is currently splitting time with Baldwin behind the plate and mixing in at designated hitter. While having two good catchers is a great idea, the fact the Braves love the tandem between Murphy and Baldwin could be a message to other general managers that they aren’t just going to dump the former for free.
It also is a threat to Murphy’s playing time. Marcell Ozuna has been the Braves designated hitter dating back to the 2020 season. While his departure looks likely this offseason, Atlanta could choose to rotate both players in an effort to keep Murphy healthy enough to trade him this winter.
There are other Braves that are candidates to get benched such as Ozzie Albies and Michael Harris III. But neither player has a suitable successor. Murphy is in a different situation and could be watching more games from the dugout as the season comes to an end.