Heading into the 2025 season, the Atlanta Braves hope veteran catcher Sean Murphy can rebound after a frustrating 2024 season. Murphy was outstanding in his first season with the Braves in 2023 en route to making the MLB All-Star Game.
The right-handed hit slashed .251/.365/.478 with 21 doubles, 21 home runs, and 68 RBI, which was in line with what he did in his last year with the Athletics. However, that wasn’t the case in 2024.
Murphy suffered an oblique injury on Opening Day last season, which kept him out until the end of May. The veteran struggled to regain his 2023 form at the plate, slashing .193/.284/.352 with five doubles, 10 home runs, and 25 RBI in 72 games.
For a player who was an All-Star and signed a six-year, $73 million contract extension in 2022, it was an unacceptable performance. Braves fans didn’t expect the veteran catcher to be robbing the team blind, which he did last season.
However, the hope is that it won’t happen again in 2025. Murphy is scheduled to make $15 million this season – the seventh-highest amount on the team.
Nonetheless, when you look at Murphy’s advanced stats from last season, Braves fans should be cautious going into the 2025 campaign. The veteran catcher’s BAbip dipped from .286 in his first year with the club to a career-worst .223 last season.
Then to make matters worse, Murphy’s home run percentage dropped to 3.8 from 4.8, along with his base-on-balls percentage (11.2 to 10.2). The one-time All-Star also saw his strikeout percentage go up to 25.4, which hasn’t happened since 2021.
Murphy’s hard-hit rate hit rock bottom last season at 36.5 (career-worst). Based on those stats, it’s not crazy to think Murphy won’t rebound and could “rob” the team blind. If Murphy doesn’t look like the same player he was in 2023, it wouldn’t be shocking to see catching prospect Drake Baldwin make a push toward the big leagues after tearing it up in Triple-A Gwinnett.