The Braves acquired catcher Kevan Smith from the Rays in exchange for cash, per a team announcement. Tampa Bay designated him for assignment earlier in the week. In a corresponding move, Atlanta designated veteran backstop Jeff Mathis for assignment.
The Braves' catching situation has been in constant flux since the injury to Travis d’Arnaud. The 38-year-old Mathis went 0-for-9 in his three games of work, striking out five times and failing to reach base. Of course, his value proposition is on the defensive side of the ball, not with the bat.
As for Smith, he is 1-for-4 this season with the Rays, his second season with Tampa after previously seeing time with the Angels and White Sox. For his career, Smith owns a .271/.320/.383 across 751 plate appearances since 2016.
In other moves, the Braves activated Grant Dayton from the 10-day injured list and optioned Tucker Davidson to Triple-A, per the Athletic’s David O’Brien (via Twitter). Davidson made a spot start against the Mets Tuesday. In just his second career start, the southpaw gave up three runs on five hits across six innings of work. He walked one while striking out five. The Braves ultimately lost the game by the score of 4-3.
Dayton will return to the bullpen, the fifth lefty in manager Brian Snitker’s pen. He has made nine appearances totaling nine innings, giving up five runs. He does have a solid 10-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio in this small sample of work.
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