Braves trying out intriguing option at catcher

That by itself isn’t all that interesting. Farmer has appeared in 10 games for the Braves this season, recording a measly .624 OPS — but this report from Mark Bowman is interesting.

The Braves will be working him at catcher on the farm as a potential backup option.

The Braves situation behind the plate has been both remarkable and disastrous. Drake Baldwin was a superstar prior to injuring his oblique, but Sean Murphy has barely played as a result of two injuries, the latest of which he’s not going to return from for a while. And there just aren’t any teams that have quality third or fourth options behind the plate, the Braves included.

Chadwick Tromp and Sandy Leon were equally terrible. Tromp was designated for assignment and Leon was recently sent to the minors following the Braves acquisition of Joey Bart. Bart is a decent offensive catcher and should be able to handle backup duties just fine, but Atlanta is rightfully preparing accordingly in case another one of their catchers goes down.

Farmer has caught a grand total of 15 games over his career, with most of them coming in 2019 when he spent 12 games behind the plate. Not exactly an inspiring choice, but a potential option nonetheless. There’s almost no way he can be worse than what the Braves got out of Sandy Leon and Chadwick Tromp.

The bigger concern is what this might mean for Sean Murphy. The initial expectation is that he could be back around August after suffering a fractured middle finger in his left hand. Hopefully, this doesn’t mean there’s been some sort of setback and there is a concern about him returning at all this season.