Braves Activate Sean Murphy From Injured List, DFA Catcher

The Atlanta Braves get a key All-Star back in the lineup in time for their upcoming game against the Seattle Mariners on Monday. The team announced that Sean Murphy has been activated from the injured list. Jonah Heim was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Murphy was expected to make his season debut during this season. The exact game had been unclear until now.

He had been recovering from a hip injury since he went down in early September of last season. He underwent surgery, and his season came to an early end.

After seven hitless games during his rehab assignment, he started to pick up the pace. In his last six games, he's batting .333 with two doubles and four RBIs.

This is the second season in a row that he is making a late debut. Last season, he sustained a cracked rib early in spring training, costing him the first few weeks of the regular season. If you include the oblique injury early in the 2024 season, he's missed much of the early going for some time now.

When healthy, Murphy has shown that he can still bring some pop to this lineup. Through July 31 of last season, he was batting .233 with an .823 OPS, 16 home runs and 42 RBIs. If that had been his stat line when the season ended, many would have been satisfied with that.

An already solid Braves lineup could get an extra boost.

Heim signed with the Braves at the start of spring training to a major league contract. From that point, it became clear that he was going to be on the opening day roster. He backed up Drake Baldwin, providing a veteran presence behind the dish when Baldwin was penciled in as the designated hitter.

He batted .231 with a .721 OPS, a home run, five doubles and eight RBIs. His grand finale came back on Sunday, when the Braves completed the sweep of the Colorado Rockies. He collected two extra-base hits, including the afformentioned lone home run, and he drove in five runs.

We'll learn soon what his fate is. If he clears through waivers, the Braves could opt to keep him in the system by outrighting him to Triple-A.

Along with Murphy, Raisel Iglesias is expected to be activated from the injured list during this series. The expectation is that it will happen on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Ha-Seong Kim is heading to Triple-A to continue his rehab assignment with Gwinnett. He spent the first week with Double-A Columbus.

The Braves are set to start their series with the Mariners on Monday night. JR Ritchie is set to take the mound for a 9:40 p.m. EDT first pitch.

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