After losing Sean Murphy to injury for at least the next month, the Atlanta Braves are reportedly considering former All-Star catcher Yasmani Grandal in free agency.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post had the news on social media:
The Braves are considering James McCann and Yasmani Grandal. For now Chadwick Tromp is their catcher with Sean Murphy out.
https://t.co/RTl2XmUHym. Friday MLB Notes: Yanks have interest in JD Martinez but not close to deal yet plus notes on Rice, Cease, Iggy, Helsley, Verdugo, Rizzo, Rose and much more
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) March 7, 2025
Grandal, a 36-year-old native of Cuba, is a 13-year veteran of the San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago White Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates.
He made the All-Star Game with the Dodgers in 2015 and the Brewers in 2019 before signing a big free agent deal with the White Sox before the 2020 season.
Though Chicago made the playoffs in both 2020 and 2021, Grandal hit just .226 on the South Side. Furthermore, he hit just 44 home runs, though it should be noted that the 2020 season was only 60 games because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He hit 23 homers in 2021, but failed to hit more than eight in any of the other three seasons he was in Chicago.
He produced a negative WAR (per Baseball Reference) in each of his last two seasons with the Sox. He signed a deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates for 2024, hitting .228 over 72 games. Grandal hit nine home runs in total, ticking upward at the end of the year.
Lifetime, he’s a .236 hitter. He’s played over 100 games just once since the 2021 season, so durability could be an issue, but Atlanta would likely use him in a part-time role, and then it’s unclear if they’d even need him when Murphy returns.
Grandal has 194 home runs, needing just six to hit the 200-mark for his career.
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