The Atlanta Braves have signed catcher Travis d’Arnaud to a two-year contract worth $16 million, the team announced Sunday.
d’Arnaud, 30, was a first-round pick by the Philadelphia Phillies in 2007 and has since accrued a .246/.307/.412 slash in 500 games over seven MLB seasons. In 2019, he posted a .745 OPS and 1.0 WAR (as measured by Baseball Reference) while playing with the Tampa Bay Rays, New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers.
By joining Atlanta, d’Arnaud reunites with former Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos, who is now the Braves’ GM. Anthopoulos traded for d’Arnaud in 2009 (in a package that sent Roy Halladay to the Phillies) and traded him away in 2012 (to land R.A. Dickey).
The Braves, who won the NL East but lost in the division series, struggled to find value at the catching position last year. According to Baseball Reference, the Braves ranked 25th in catcher wins above average (-1.9) with a committee led by Tyler Flowers and Brian McCann.
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