Braves hope to have one massive positional advantage over MLB in 2023

The Atlanta Braves made a savvy move that looks like redundancy but they hope will play more like depth in 2023.

In building professional sports teams, there’s a delicate balance to be had between depth and redundancy. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell when you have one or the other, especially before the season has dawned on a newly-constructed team.

The Atlanta Braves are banking on their setup at catcher playing out as depth rather than redundancy in 2023.

The whole world now knows that the Braves acquired Sean Murphy, but we have some insight now into how the team sees the combination of Travis d’Arnaud and Murphy playing out behind the plate.

Braves catchers coach Sal Fasano told Fox Sports’ Jake Mintz that the main intention is to keep the legs fresh for both players.

"“We’re going to maximize both guys because it’s gonna help save their legs.” Fasano explained. “Right now we’re in a position where we’re not going to sacrifice anything.”"

The Braves will toggle both players in between DH and catcher. d’Arnaud told Mintz that he expects the setup will be incredibly advantageous to him and, presumably, Murphy as well.

"“I’m expecting there will be at-bats where I feel 30 pounds lighter than I normally do.” anticipated d’Arnaud, who is expected to see time at DH whenever Murphy catches and vice versa. “And honestly, [the Murphy trade] gives me a better chance of running around with my kids instead of getting knee surgeries.”"

Braves are hoping to see depth at catcher play out as a key advantage

Catcher is one of the most grueling positions out on the diamond. Crouched over the plate in full padding for over 100 pitches in a full game and cumulatively thousands of hours a season, their bodies simply go through more than other positions do.

Most teams have a clearly more talented catcher and a backup to give them off days and fill in in the event of an injury. Few teams are able to give a full vote of confidence to both catchers, which could turn out to be a massive advantage for the Braves in 2023.

Is the position truly worth the depth, though? One perspective would suggest no, since the role of catcher is less swiss-army knife than others around the diamond. There could be negative implications from this change, too, like either player getting out of their rhythm, or having their ego bruised if the other pulls ahead as a clear No. 1, even between the two extremely talented catchers. Fasano indicated that neither player is the type to let their ego get in the way, though.

Another perspective would suggest that catcher is incredibly important and worth investing as much as you can in. A quality catcher lifts the performance of their pitchers and helps clean up the small, but important things. A passed ball vs strong plate defense can be the difference between additional bases and, ultimately, runs scored for the opponent.

We’ll see how it pans out for the Braves. If it works, expect strong teams to look to emulate this strategy. It’ll be tough to do so with the Braves already having two of the top catchers in the game, though.