In one of the few bits of good news so far this season, Sean Murphy has rejoined the Braves after suffering a cracked rib in Spring Training.

The #Braves today returned C Sean Murphy from his rehabilitation assignment and reinstated him from the injured list, and designated C Chadwick Tromp for assignment.

— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) April 6, 2025

With Chadwick Tromp getting designated for assignment, it suggests the Braves plan on keeping both Murphy and top prospect Drake Baldwin on the major-league roster for the remainder of the season. How their playing time is split should be dependent on one thing.

Sean Murphy will likely get the bulk of the opportunities in the short-term. The Braves invested heavily into him a couple of offseason ago, trading away William Contreras along with several other prospects and handing him a six-year, $72 million contract extension.

2024 was a year to forget for Murphy, but he shouldn’t totally be written off. He’s been far too good for far too long to be discarded that easily. The Braves need to give him the opportunity to regain the form he showcased during the first half of the 2023 campaign, which led to an All-Star bid.

With that being said, Atlanta has dug themselves into a pretty deep hole to start the season. They’re 1-8 and already six games behind the Philadelphia Phillies for first place in the NL East. That doesn’t give them a lot of room to mess around moving forward. They need to start winning… quickly.

Drake Baldwin’s surface level numbers might not be very sexy, hitting just .154 with a .434 OPS, but anybody who has paid close attention has garnered an appreciation for his patient approach. He’s not striking out a bunch and hitting the ball hard often. Eventually, some of those bounces will start going his way, and his numbers will rise exponentially. Baldwin has the opportunity to be one of the best hitting catchers in baseball, and if there’s one thing the Braves need right now, it’s more offense.

Currently, Atlanta ranks at or near dead last in every offensive metric. Some of that will correct itself over time, but this is a lineup that lacks depth after the top five. The Braves need guys in the back half of the lineup to step up, and their best bet is at the catcher position.

Whoever has the hot hand is who Brian Snitker is going to play. We saw it last year with Sean Murphy and Travis d’Arnaud. I see no reason why that approach from the Braves manager will change this season, with the offense struggling in an even worse manner.

Hopefully, Sean Murphy and Drake Baldwin both get hot. That’s a problem the Braves would love to have, but whoever is hitting is likely who the club is going to lean on more often.