Yadier Molina aside, catching is a young man’s game.  And even Yadier is now spending his days in his custom La-Z-Boy.  At age 34, Travis d’Arnaud made the transition from first-string catcher to backup catcher… and not a moment too soon.  Of the 92 men who caught in MLB last year, only Martin Maldonado, Yan Gomes and Manny Piña are older, and the elder statesman is Maldonado at 36.  And Manny only caught 4 games.

d’Arnaud, Maldonado and Gomes make an interesting career comparison.  Maldonado has played the most games, and has the only Gold Glove of the 3, (all three have a World Series ring) but is nowhere near the other two as a hitter.  I was a little surprised to see just how close Gomes is to d’Arnaud.  His 91 career OPS+ is not as good as Travis’ 99, but d’Arnaud’s inability to stay on the field (300 fewer games) means that d’Arnaud’s 7.4 career WAR (virtually identical to Maldonado’s) is destroyed by Gomes’ 19.3. Travis will make $2 million more than Gomes this year… both are in the last years of their contracts, though the Braves have an option on Travis in 2025.

In 2023, he struggled with the bat over extended stretches.  He missed a month with yet another concussion, this one sustained by the malodorous play of Rougned Odor pictured above. (For those who don’t recall, the stinky Odor collided with Travis without even touching the plate, making a mockery of the rules catchers are supposed to use to avoid collisions.) His OPS+ of 82, while not the lowest of his career, was worse than all but one year in which he manages to catch 70 games or more.  And that year (2016) he was with the Mets, so he’s supposed to suck.  His BABIP (.258) was unusually low, but, honestly, if you look at his whole career 2023 just looks like a normal year on the down side of average. For what it’s worth, he was one of only two Braves to hit well against Philly in the playoffs (Riley was the other) but I really don’t think that means anything at all.

He’s slotted in as the DH whenever Marcell Ozuna has flulike symptoms or a court appearance, but that’s a nothing move at this point.  He’s perfectly serviceable as a second catcher and while you feel like you’ve sacrificed something to put him in the game, you don’t have that Bobby Cox it’s-Sunday-who-haven’t-I-used-lately feeling.

He also seems to be a genuinely nice guy liked by his teammates and by the Braves.  Fine.  Pay the man.  But we cashed in a lot of catching chips (Langeliers and Contreras) and it’s no knock on Travis to say that there aren’t many 35 year olds ready to step up and take the full catching load any more.  So Murphy had better stay healthy and figure out how to hit again, because Travis’ best days are behind him.  He can still hit a homer and he wears the tools of ignorance well.  But if he wants the Braves to pay him that last option year, he’s going to have to kick it up a notch.