Welcome to our annual look at the overall system depth at each position. For the last four years, the Atlanta catching corps has been among the most productive in baseball. Last year the position was carried by what turned out to be one of the best free agent signees of the offseason. On the farm, the team have two near-majors catching prospects that could make an impact soon, though the depth tails off quite a bit in the lower levels of the system.
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ATLANTA BRAVES
STARTER: Travis d’Arnaud
When the Braves signed journeyman catcher d’Arnaud to a two year, $16 million deal after the 2019 season, most of baseball shrugged. After being a top prospect for the Blue Jays who was traded to the Mets in the R.A. Dickey trade, d’Arnaud had an injury-plagued career prior to 2019 when he arrived to the Tampa Bay Rays in May (after having already been released by the Mets and traded by the Dodgers), but a healthy d’Arnaud, two years removed from TJS, showed that he could be the offensive threat that scouts thought back in his prospect days. The Braves bought the improvement, and d’Arnaud took his play to a new level. In his 44 games (39 starts, 33 of them behind the plate), d’Arnaud had the third-best wRC+, 144, of any catcher with over 100 plate appearances, hitting .321/.386/.533 with 9 home runs. By September, d’Arnaud served as the team’s clean-up hitter as MVP Freddie Freeman was moved up to the #2 spot in the order, a move that super-charged the offense. d’Arnaud was also an asset behind the plate, ranking 8th in baseball in Baseball Prospectus’s Catcher Defensive Adjustment among all major league backstops.
While it’s highly unlikely that d’Arnaud will achieve that same level of offense over the course of a full 162 season, mostly in part because it seems unlikely he will benefit from a .411 BABiP over that long of a time span, but there is no particular reason to believe that d’Arnaud’s production or defensive skills would suddenly drop outside of an injury situation going into his free agent year, and with his success the Braves seem to have abandoned their usual 50/50 playing time split between their two main catchers.
Back-up: The team may at any time sign a veteran catcher to back up d’Arnaud, including longtime Braves catcher Tyler Flowers who at the time of this writing remains a free agent, but right now it looks like it will be a battle of prospects to determine who will take the back-up role. My guess right now is that Alex Jackson will start the season as the second catcher. Jackson is a very good defensive catcher, which is of most importance to Atlanta. Jackson also has light-tower power when he can connect. How much he’ll connect at the major league level is still an open question, but he should be fine to be d’Arnaud’s caddy.
Upper-Level Minor Leaguers
C William Contreras
Projected Level: AAA Gwinnett
Jackson’s most likely competition for the spot will be William Contreras, who like Jackson was pressed into duty for the first five games of the season when d’Arnaud and Flowers experienced flu-like symptoms and were going through COVID protocols. Contreras is the better overall hitter of the two right now after showing better swing mechanics in spring training and in the summer camp, and is no slouch in the power department either. Jackson is better behind the plate right now, though Contreras continues to make strides in that area. Another consideration is that the Braves may want to keep Contreras in the minors for at least a few weeks to start the season to manipulate his service time so he won’t be a Super-Two arbitration case, but it should also be understood that Contreras has not actually played AAA ball yet; the Braves may want Contreras to actually play his way to the majors.
C Jonathan Morales
Projected Level: AAA Gwinnett
A 25th-round selection in the 2015 draft, Morales has carved a nice niche for himself as an organizational catcher and has put himself in position for a potential call-up in an emergency situation. Morales is strong behind the plate with a good arm. At the plate he has a hard swing that unfortunately generates a very poor launch angle, resulting in too many groundballs for him to be a true offensive threat. Morales was the primary catcher on the fabled championship 2016 Rome Braves team that featured Max Fried, Mike Soroka, and Touki Toussaint and has the trust of the top homegrown Braves pitchers. Morales also has seen playing time at first and third base, adding to his value to a AAA team.
C Shea Langeliers
Projected Level: AA Mississippi
A first-round selection in 2019, Langeliers has done nothing but impress in the organization since his arrival. Already arguably the top defensive catcher in the organization, Langeliers showed improved swing mechanics in spring training and notably had the Braves coaching staff impressed. After spending the summer catching and hitting against the Braves top pitching prospects at the alternate training site last summer, Langeliers seems a likely candidate for double promotion from low-A, where he ended the 2019 season.
C Logan Brown
Projected Level: AA Mississippi
Brown has elevated his prospects since being tabbed in the 35th-round of the 2018 draft. After an impressive full-season debut at low-A Rome in 2019, Brown was challenged with a mid-season promotion. After spending all summer at the alternate training site however it seems like a natural progression to go ahead and bump him up to AA Mississippi. Brown is a fundamentally sound defensive catcher who should be able to step into a starting role if Langeliers makes a case for a promotion to AAA.
Lower-Level Minor Leaguers
C Ricardo Rodriguez
Projected Level: A+ Rome
Rodriguez has been in the Braves system since 2016 when he came over from the San Diego Padres in trade for Christian Bethancourt at the age of 17. After four seasons playing in the rookie leagues, Rodriguez finally made his full-season debut for low-A Rome in 2019, playing behind first Logan Brown then Shea Langeliers after he was drafted and assigned. Rodriguez hit .238/.293/.288 but acquitted himself well defensively, and that’s probably enough for him to get a share of the catching duties at the now high-A Rome Braves.
C Rusber Estrada
Projected Level: A+ Rome
Estrada’s full-season pro ball debut in 2019 was forgettable; stretched to start the season at high-A Florida, Estrada got off to a slow start at the plate and never really recovered as he dealt with a series of injuries. A good fundamental catcher with more bat than he’s showed so far, Estrada seems a good candidate to repeat the level.
C Mitch Calandra
Projected Level: A Augusta
Calandra was a senior-sign out of Eckerd College in 2019 and he impressed with strong leadership skills, garnering the primary chunk of playing time behind the plate for Danville down the stretch in 2019. Calandra is a good candidate to take part of the catching duties for a low-A team that could feature some younger arms like Tyler Owens, Jared Johnson, and Joey Estes. Calandra should also be able to hold his own at the back end of the line-up.
C Wiston Cerrato
An international amateur signee in the 2016/17 class, Cerrato has spent three seasons in the rookie leagues, the last two with the Gulf Coast Braves. Cerrato had his best season in 2019, hitting .235/.300/.358.
Short-Season Minor Leaguers
C Javier Valdes
Like Calandra, Valdez was a 2019 senior sign, though he came to catching a little bit later in his collegiate career. Valdez has good physical tools, though his defensive game is a little raw. Valdez spent 2019 with the Gulf Coast Braves and had a tough time at the plate, but refining his defensive play was the the priority for him and the organization.
C Victor De Hoyos
De Hoyos had a somewhat disappointing 2019 with Danville, his first at the advanced rookie level, only hitting .131/.209/.238 after a good 2018 season with the GCL Braves.
C Antonio Barranca
Barranca was signed as a non-drafted amateur free agent in 2020 as a bat-first catcher out of Calvert Hall College High School in Maryland. Barranca should be seen as a project at this point and will likely see a full season in the GCL, but is the most interesting catcher in the lower minors despite waiting to make his pro debut.
Catcher Depth Chart
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- Travis d’Arnaud
- Alex Jackson
- William Contreras
- Jonathan Morales
- Shea Langeliers
- Logan Brown
- Ricardo Rodriguez
- Rusber Estrada
- Mitch Calandra
- Wiston Cerrato
- Javier Valdez
- Victor De Hoyos
- Antonio Barranca
- Travis d’Arnaud
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