2025 is a big year for Sean Murphy, who is coming off the worst season of his career. To make matters worse, the player the Braves included in the three-team trade that Murphy headlined might be the best catcher in baseball — William Contreras.
Expectations are high for Murphy in Atlanta. Why else trade for him and then extend him? The Braves believe Murphy is closer to the player he was in the first half of his first season with the club, rather than what he was last year. They better hope so because Wild Bill has done nothing but rise up the ranks of his position, landing atop Buster Olney‘s top 10 catchers.
“Contreras is not an elite receiver — he was 35th among 58 catchers in catcher framing runs — but he was good enough in his catching work to help the Brewers win the National League Central. He also continued to hit, scoring 99 runs and driving in 92 with an adjusted OPS+ of 129 last season.”
The Braves traded Contreras because of his defense, not offense… obviously. A report from Mark Bowman of MLB.com revealed that Contreras’ work behind the dish was the primary factor in the trade.
“The William Contreras trade that brought Sean Murphy to Atlanta feels like a big miss. But some pitchers didn’t want to throw to Contreras and Murphy still has time to prove he can be the catcher the Braves envisioned,” Bowman wrote.
After posting an .831 OPS and 17 home runs in his first year with the Brewers, Contreras improved upon that impressive production, setting career highs in a number of metrics. Wild Bill hit .281 with a .365 on-base percentage and .831 OPS. He hit 23 home runs, scored 99 runs, and drove in 92 runs — all career-highs.
Contreras led all National League catchers in homers, runs, RBI, average and OPS. Since 2022, he leads all MLB catchers in average, OPS, runs, and WAR, while only second to Will Smith in RBI and homers.
While Sean Murphy did struggle with the stick last year, his presence behind the plate will always be valuable and is clearly what the Braves are most interested in. So, where did Murphy fall on Olney’s list? He didn’t. Not only did the 2023 All-Star not appear in the top 10, but Murphy also wasn’t included in the honorable mentions.
In fact, another former Braves catcher was — the Athletics’ Shea Langeliers, who the Braves included in the deal that brought Matt Olson to Atlanta. Langeliers is coming off a career year in which he blasted 29 homers.
Recency bias aside, it’s fair to question what the Braves have in Sean Murphy long term. He’s been straight up bad over his last 200 games with the organization, and if he doesn’t flip the script this season, the Braves might have to seriously consider top prospect Drake Baldwin as an everyday option before the end of the year.
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Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire
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