Catcher Travis d'Arnaud begins rehab assignment in AAA Gwinnett

Catcher Travis d'Arnaud, who has missed nearly a month while on the Concussion IL, has begun a rehab assignment in AAA Gwinnett, the club announced on Friday.

Welcome back to Gwinnett, Travis d'Arnaud! He will begin his rehab stint with us tonight at 7:05.

Get tickets: https://t.co/rKqNIHlzkV pic.twitter.com/29LbhbGEPE
— Gwinnett Stripers (@GoStripers) May 5, 2023

The injury was suffered at the hands of Padres infielder Rougned Odor, who collided with Travis at home plate while attempting (and failing) to score in the 4th inning of a game in Atlanta on April 8th.

Here is the video of Odor missing the plate https://t.co/OlAgyjuWsB pic.twitter.com/FgP4NXgw0G
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) April 9, 2023

d'Arnaud, 34, was the team's hottest hitter to open the season, going 11-33 with three doubles, three runs, and five RBIs in the first eight games of the season while splitting time evenly between catcher and DH. Interestingly, he was significantly more productive as a DH, going 9-18 with two of his three extra-base hits and four of his five RBIs, as well as all of his runs scored, when not working as the backstop.

That discrepancy, as well as Sean Murphy's stellar performance as the starter at catcher and d'Arnaud's history of concussion, has prompted some fans to call for him to be the primary DH when he returns, with a few going as far as requesting the Braves keep Chadwick Tromp on the roster as the backup catcher.

The concussion suffered by d'Arnaud was the fourth of his career, and his symptoms were reportedly rather severe, according to Travis himself:

“The part of my brain that got messed up wasn’t really, like, my sense of humor part, or my memory part, or anything like that. It was, like, the part that got sensitive to lights and sound. Basically, anytime I shook my head or moved my eyes — that was the part of my brain that got crushed. So anytime I was around that, I’d get massive headaches," he told reporters on Monday before the doubleheader against the Mets.

"The way I try to explain it to people who’ve drank, it felt like I had, like, two to three beers (continuously) all day,” d’Arnaud said. “And then that started fading, and once I started adding certain things (ramping up exercises), then that feeling came back, and then went from that to headaches. So yeah, it’s been crazy."

As mentioned, this was the fourth diagnosed concussion of d'Arnaud's career, although his last one prior to this occured back in 2014 when he took a bat to the helmet on a backswing from Alfonso Soriano. Catchers are generally more susceptible to concussions than other players, owing to not only potential collisions at the plate but helmet/facemask impacts from foul tips and loose bats.

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