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It was an inauspicious start for the Atlanta Braves in the 2024 regular season when the team lost starting catcher – and 2023 All-Star – Sean Murphy to an oblique injury on Opening Day. As the team heads towards late May, Murphy has yet to return to the big-league club, and the team has not announced any expectations for his return.

For many teams, the loss of a high-end starting catcher would be an impediment to league average production at a position that is often lauded more for a player’s ability to provided defensive and off-the-team prowess as their ability to be productive in the batter’s box.

Fortunately for Atlanta, the club had Travis d’Arnaud, a 2022 All-Star, in position to resume the starting duties that the 35-year-old had ceded to Murphy. Not only is the well-respected d’Arnaud handling a pitching staff that has exceeded expectations this season, but his offensive production has rebounded to a level similar to his 2022 and 2020 seasons.

Sliding up a spot on the depth chart has been Chadwick Tromp. In his third season with the Braves organization, Tromp has seen his most extensive MLB playing time since his rookie year with the San Fransisco Giants in 2020. In Tromp’s 14 games with the Braves this season, he has provided a paltry amount of offensive but has been above average defensively – a mix that is likely enough to keep him rostered with Atlanta until Murphy returns.

After their May 14, 2024, victory over the Chicago Cubs, the Braves had a record of 26-13, two games behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the National League East. With the team’s offense declining from of a record-setting 2023, the 2024 incarnation of the team has found success with pitching a defense while the organization and its fans wait and hope for the offensive to elevate to a level more comparable to last season.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the performance of d’Arnaud and Tromp behind the plate in the absence of one of the games top 10 all-around catchers in Murphy. It is worth mentioning that the man for whom Murphy was ostensibly traded for in William Contreras has developed into one of the top catchers in the game, with the former Brave already generating 2.3 fWAR for the Milwaukee Brewers while producing a fantastic 171 wRC+ with a defensive output that, while not as strong as his leap forward in 2023, is neutral at worst.

Photo by Matthew Grimes Jr./Atlanta Braves/Getty Images

Travis d’Arnaud

The veteran d’Arnaud has been good offensively with 1.1 fWAR thus far in the 2024 champaign buoyed by a 136 wRC+ in 34 games through May 14. There’s a lot to like when reviewing his Baseball Savant page as he has been well above average-to-great in numerous offensive areas including Barrel %, Hard-Hit %, XBA, xwOBA and xSLG. He continues to be near-elite levels in blocking although his framing and pop-time are both below average.

If you’ve watched d’Arnaud during his time in Atlanta, you’ve likely noticed that he has changed how he has attempted to catch would-be base stealers by making almost all of his throws from his knees. Helped by dispatching of four runners who attempted to steal, there’s been a perception that his new throwing style has significantly increased his ability to stifle the running game.

That hasn’t exactly been the case.

Although d’Arnaud is sitting at one CS Above Average, his Pop Time – the number of seconds it takes for a throw to reach the base to which he is throwing – sits at 1.97, the same as last year. Outside of his 2018 season with the New York Mets – when he only had six opportunities to throw out a runner at second base – his Pop Time has ranged from 2.06 to 1.94. In his five seasons with Atlanta, the range decreased to 2.03 to 1.94.

This season d’Arnaud has seen a slight dip in his Arm Strength, with his 78.7 MPH being the lowest of his career and the book end of a range that topped out at 79.5 in 2022 during his five seasons with the Braves.

Where he has improved – dramatically – is in his Exchange Time. Exchange Time is the time it takes to receive the thrown ball and transition it to the throwing hand for release. In his 34 games this season, d’Arnaud has a 0.64 second Exchange Time. That is a slight improvement from 2023’s 0.67 mark but a major decrease in time from 2021 and 2022 when he sat at 0.82 and 0.76, respectively.

This improvement in Exchange Time only positions d’Arnaud at 29^th in baseball, but it has helped him overall given that his Pop Time and Arm Strength are both several positions lower in their respective rankings. By comparison, his Exchange Time in 2021 was 47^th in baseball, fourth worst in the game. He’s also been a bit lucky as would-be base stealers have logged 27.9 feet/second per attempt, the second slowest of for qualified catchers.

That isn’t to suggest that his improvement to slightly below average is a negative, quite the opposite, it is an example of a player making a small modification to his game to find improvement.

Defensive measurement can be, at times, misleading or at best inconsistent but so far this year, they don’t like d’Arnaud’s framing – an area where he was above average to elite in the last few seasons but has dropped to below average this year.

Photo by Matthew Grimes Jr./Atlanta Braves/Getty Images

Chadwick Tromp

The sample size for Tromp has been small in 2024 as he has seen action in only 14 games. He’s posted a 0.0 fWAR, with the metrics giving positive reviews for his defense at a high enough level to offset his subpar offensive output which sits at an anemic 33 wRC+. With only 38 plate appearances, he’s one good game – like his lone 2022 appearance in which he went 3 for 4 with three RBI – from pushing is offensive numbers up. However, although he’s shown above average bat speed, the rest of his offensive profile don’t offer much reason for optimism.

But that’s okay because what Tromp has supplied has been above average defensive; enough so that he should hold on to his role as a traditional back-up catcher while Murphy remains sidelined. Although his Blocks Above Average have been below average, he’s rated above average in both his framing ability and his CS Above Average.

Although through May 14 he’d only received 330 pitches, he ranks eight in Catcher Framing Runs (admittedly tied with several other backstops). On the positive side, the seven players ranked higher than him have seen no less than 260 more pitches. He’s been especially proficient at framing pitches on the first-base side of the plate, leading all of baseball in framing pitches on that outer edge.

Tromp is tied with d’Arnaud with one Catcher’s CS Above Average, but Tromp has done so in only five attempts (at second base). Tromp’s Pop Time is 1.90, which ranks him 10^th in both leagues. Tromp’s Exchange Time has been among the game’s best, ranking fourth at 0.58 seconds, only 0.02 seconds behind Yan Gomes for best in the sport.

Runners attempting to steal against Tromp have been slower than average – although not as slow as against d’Arnaud – with Tromp ranking 13^th for slowest speed attempting to steal.

How does d’Arnaud and Tromp’s 2024 performance compare against Murphy in 2023?

Murphy was one of the best catchers in the game for a reason in 2023. He was above average to elite in almost every batting metric and was elite for the top for catcher defense metrics. He was stunningly good last year – including a perfect 100 in Block Above Average. Murphy was fourth in Arm Strength and Pop Time last year, although his Exchange Time was below d’Arnaud in the bottom 20-percent of the baseball.

Despite his second half struggles last season, Murphy’s overall production (4.9 fWAR) was almost irreplaceable. However, the job both d’Arnaud and Tromp have done has been commendably, with d’Arnaud doing most of the heavy lifting – and almost all of it offensively.

Assuming Murphy returns before mid-season, it would have been difficult to expect any better results than those delivered by d’Arnaud and Tromp 40 games into the season.