The Braves placed Sean Murphy on the 10-day injured list Tuesday, retroactive to May 11, after the catcher fractured his left middle finger. Atlanta said Murphy is expected to miss at least eight weeks, a blow that comes just days after he returned from a long rehab from hip surgery.
The move forced another quick reshuffle behind the plate. The Braves signed Sandy León to a big league deal to fill Murphy’s roster spot, selected José Azócar to the major league club and optioned Jim Jarvis. León began the season with Triple-A Gwinnett, then spent time in the Mexican League before Atlanta brought him back.
Murphy’s injury appears to have come on a catcher’s interference play in Sunday’s game, when Hyeseong Kim swung at a pitch and made contact with Murphy’s glove. After the game, Walt Weiss said Murphy would be going for X-rays but would probably be fine. The prognosis changed sharply by Tuesday, when the fracture and the recovery timeline became clear.
That timeline matters because Murphy had only been back for about a week after finishing his rehab from hip surgery, and he had played in just four games before ending up back on the shelf. Atlanta had already leaned on Drake Baldwin and Jonah Heim while Murphy was out earlier in the year, but Heim was designated for assignment when Murphy was reinstated in May and later traded to the Athletics. The Braves were again forced to patch the position after Ha-Seong Kim was reinstated from the injured list on May 11 and Eli White went on the concussion injured list that same day.
León is the familiar emergency solution, not a long-term answer. He hit.118/.268/.118 in 10 games for Gwinnett before he was released, later signed with the Saraperos de Saltillo and hit.143/.273/.143 in 10 games there. His career line of.207/.275/.311 underscores what Atlanta is getting: a catcher who can cover innings, not one asked to replace Murphy’s production.
Murphy has been trying to get beyond a cycle of injuries that has limited him to fewer than 95 games in both 2024 and 2025, and the hip issue that sent him to surgery in September 2025 had already followed him for months. For Atlanta, the immediate question is less about lineup construction than survival. The club has a catcher again, but it has lost the one it had been counting on.
