Braves Hopeful of Earlier Season Returns for Sean Murphy, Ha-Seong Kim

The Atlanta Braves are hopeful that key players recovering from surgery will be back sooner rather than later

Both should be back relatively early in the season | Jeff Curry-Imagn Images

An update bringing a hopeful recovery timeline for two notable Atlanta Braves injuries has come about. According to MLB.com's Mark Bowman, the team is hopeful that catcher Sean Murphy and shortstop Ha-Seong Kim will be activated from the injured list in May.

Murphy, at the very least, will miss the first month of the season. Given this timeline, he could be back at any time during the month. Based on his timeline, it would make sense if Kim returned in the latter half of May.

He was ruled out for four to five months when he underwent surgery on Jan. 18. This hope is that he's on the sooner end of that projection, which is mid-May at the earliest. In theory, it's possible that he's ready before that, but it's hard to imagine the Braves would rush him. If he does return in May, it's still a major boost. We've been talking about having him back in June for the past couple of weeks.

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During the absence of Murphy and Kim, the plans for these positions are still what we have been expecting. Drake Baldwin will have the everyday role behind the dish and will occasionally be the DH. Mauricio Dubón is still expected to be the starting shortstop to start the season.

Naturally, the designated hitter position will see a rotation of players in and out. Manager Walt Weiss was in favor of the type of move, and the addition of Mike Yastrzemski gives them the extra bat to rotate between the outfield and DH. Dubon, a utility player, can play multiple positions and help get his fellow infielders off their feet.

Once Murphy is back, Baldwin will likely see more time as a DH. The goal is to rotate the two between catcher and DH, and someone else will take on the DH spot if Weiss wants one of them resting entirely for the day.

Both Murphy and Kim missed the start of last season, with Murphy also missing the last month of the season.

The Braves' All-Star catcher saw action in 94 games, batting .199, with a .709 OPS, 16 home runs and 45 RBIs. The last month he played saw him struggle through his hip injury until he was finally shut down to undergo surgery. As late as July 20, he was batting .236 with an .845 OPS. When you suddenly bat .094 with a .376 OPS and no home runs over 31 games, it's clear that something was up.

Kim's time with the Tampa Bay Rays was derailed by injury, limiting him to 24 games heading into September. He was put on waivers, and the Braves scooped him up. Once he was healthy, he was able to let loose, batting .253 with an .684 OPS, three home runs and 12 RBIs in 24 games.

Before he went hitless during the three-game season finale against the Pirates, he was batting .289 with a .770 OPS. The Braves were getting solid production out of him. They'll feel not having him in the lineup, but they'll, based on this target return time, at least have him for the vast majority of the season.