Sean

Murphy

The Braves had to add Keirsey Jr. to the 40-man roster today or risk losing him, so they moved Sean Murphy to the 60-day injured list to clear a spot. Keirsey Jr. has hit .260/.298/.384 in 49 games at Triple-A with four home runs and 16 steals.

Murphy hit the injured list prior to Tuesday’s series opener against the Cubs with a fractured left middle finger. The 31-year-old, who missed nearly six weeks to open the year recovering from offseason hip surgery, will likely be sidelined until after the All-Star break in mid-July. It’ll be journeyman Sandy León taking his roster spot as Drake Baldwin’s primary caddy during his absence.

Murphy lasted just six days on the active roster before getting hurt on a catcher’s interference during Sunday’s game. Sandy Léon will place him as Drake Baldwin’s backup, but the bigger beneficiary here is Dominic Smith, who will resume seeing more time at DH against righties with Murphy absent.

Walt Weiss said he was optimistic it wouldn’t prove to be a significant injury. The Braves traded Jonah Heim when Murphy came off the injured list, so Chadwick Tromp would seem to be their third catcher once again.

Murphy returns to Atlanta’s catching mix after missing nearly six weeks at the start of the year recovering from hip surgery. He’ll likely wind up catching more than originally anticipated entering the season since the Braves want to keep Drake Baldwin at DH as much as possible. Still, Murphy can be ignored in shallow fantasy leagues at this stage of his career.

Atlanta probably wouldn’t mind if Murphy took his time with the way Drake Baldwin has been tearing the cover off the ball this season. The 31-year-old backstop is expected to catch Spencer Strider’s rehab start on Thursday but figures to return to Atlanta shortly afterwards. He’s been out recovering from last year’s hip surgery since the end of spring training.

The specific plan calls for Murphy to catch four innings on Tuesday, five innings on Thursday, then catch again on Saturday, and DH on Sunday. All of that makes it sound like we could be getting Sean Murphy back on the Atlanta roster sooner rather than later.

Murphy had been scheduled to begin that assignment on Friday, but he’ll be away for the weekend to tend to a family matter. It’s going to take Murphy at least a couple of week’s worth of at-bats to get back into the swing of things before he’ll be an option to help out at the Major League level.

Weiss referred to this as “spring training” for Murphy, so don’t expect it to be a short rehab assignment. The goal is to get him “a couple dozen at-bats,” which could mean double-digit games, and he also will not play in back-to-back games from the start. That means it could be late May before we see Murphy back with the Braves. That will cut into Drake Baldwin’s playing time a little bit, but Murphy should be the clear backup at this point.

That according to Atlanta manager Walt Weiss. Murphy is still working his way back from hip surgery, but it’s encouraging that he’s resumed activities, and Weiss suggested that it’s possible he could begin a rehab assignment soon. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Murphy is back with Atlanta by the beginning of May.