This begins a series where I will highlight Atlanta Braves bounce back candidates. It will be quite an extensive series; it might be easier to name the players who aren’t candidates to bounce back rather than the ones who are, but we will begin with Sean Murphy.
I figured we’d start at the most obvious point, with one of the biggest disappointments from the 2024 campaign. From Opening Day, Murphy’s season was forgettable. He injured his oblique in the Braves’ first game, causing him to miss two months, but he clearly never overcame that injury.
Whether it was the actual injury or split playing time, Sean Murphy never found his groove last season, finishing with a slash line of .193/.284/.352 and a wRC+ of 78, which is 22% below league average.
However, there are reasons to be optimistic about his 2025 outlook, one being his expected stats were better than his actual stats. His batting average of .193 was lower than his xBA of .213, and his slugging percentage of .352 was lower than his xSLG of .399.
Moreover, Murphy suffered from a bit of bad luck too, in terms of his batting average on balls in play. Last season was by far the lowest mark in a season at .223. For his career, Murphy’s average BABIP is .271; that’s a massive discrepancy.
The Braves’ backstop is healthy and expected to start 70% of the games behind the dish. Is he going to replicate the first half of 2023 when he was quietly an MVP candidate? I’m not sure, but Sean Murphy isn’t who he was in 2024. I have high expectations for the former All-Star in 2025.
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Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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