Braves Settle on Rehab Assignment Date for Sean Murphy

The Atlanta Braves have picked out a date for when catcher Sean Murphy will begin his rehab assignment. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Chad Bishop, he’s expected to get underway on Friday. 

He’ll head to Triple-A Gwinnett, which is playing a six-game series against the Nashville Sounds.

This target time falls in line with the reported timeframe that was reported earlier this month. Murphy recently played a sim game up in Rome, the High-A affiliate for the Braves. 

Murphy has been recovering from hip surgery since September, when he was shut down after having season-ending surgery. 

This is the second year in a row that he has started the season on the injured list. If you include his oblique injury from 2024, it's the third straight year he's missed time early on. 

For now, Drake Baldwin is the starting catcher, while Jonah Heim is backing him up. Baldwin is seeing action at the designated hitter spot in the lineup, and Murphy is expected to do the same once he is back and healthy. 

Heim could potentially stick around as a third catcher to use for late-game substitutions. 

When healthy last season, he looked as good as ever at the plate. As late as July 20, he was batting .240 with an .845 OPS, 16 home runs and 38 RBIs. In his final month of action that season, he slumped once the hip gave out. 

The Braves are coming off a 6-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels that started off their three-game series in Anaheim. They’re 2-3 on their road trip after taking the first two games of their four-game series against the Diamondbacks.

The Braves look to even the series with the Angels on Tuesday night. Reynaldo López (1-0, 1.64 ERA) is on the mound for a 9:38 p.m. first pitch.