Braves catcher Travis d’Arnaud is headed to the injured list after suffering a left thumb injury in Saturday night’s game with the Blue Jays, manager Brian Snitker told reporters (including David O’Brien of The Athletic). More will be known about d’Arnaud’s injury after he undergoes tests, although Snitker bluntly described the situation as “not good.” D’Arnaud isn’t staying with the Braves on the road, as he is heading back to Atlanta to visit team doctors on Sunday.
D’Arnaud suffered the injury on a play at the plate in the sixth inning. The catcher tagged out Randal Grichuk on the outfielder's attempt to score from first on a Lourdes Gurriel Jr. double, but d’Arnaud immediately indicated he was hurt, and was replaced in the game by Alex Jackson.
William Contreras will be called up before Sunday’s game to take d’Arnaud’s spot on the active roster. Contreras made his MLB debut with four games for Atlanta last season, and it is perhaps little surprising that the Braves are going with the inexperienced player over 14-year veteran Jeff Mathis, who signed a minor-league deal just before Opening Day. Atlanta does have a full 40-man roster, however, and would have to open up a spot in order to officially select Mathis’ contract. Contreras is also a noteworthy prospect, ranked by MLB Pipeline as the Braves’ sixth-best minor leaguer, and it could be that Atlanta wants to give Contreras some seasoning in advance of a potentially larger role for 2022 and beyond.
Even though d’Arnaud has been plagued by injuries throughout his career, he was able to stay mostly healthy in 2019-20 and was very productive, including a .321/.386/.533 performance over 184 PA in 2020 that won him a Silver Slugger Award. It was a strong return on the two-year, $16 million free-agent deal the Braves made with d’Arnaud in the 2019-20 offseason. D’Arnaud was off to a slow start in this campaign, hitting .220/.253/.341 through his first 87 PA.
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