Braves sign veteran catcher after placing Sean Murphy on IL

The Atlanta Braves announced a few roster transactions on Tuesday ahead of their series opener against the Chicago Cubs. Colin Rea will start for the Cubs, and Grant Holmes for the Braves.

“The Braves today signed free agent C Sandy León to a major league contract and placed C Sean Murphy on the 10-day injured list, backdated to May 11, with a fractured left middle finger. Atlanta today also selected OF José Azócar to the major league roster after optioning INF Jim Jarvis to Triple-A Gwinnett yesterday.”

Sandy Leon is back with the Braves after a lengthy career in MLB. Leon played for the Braves last season in 2025 after playing for the Texas Rangers in 2023. Leon spent three years with the Washington Nationals before spending five seasons in Boston. Leon has a career .207 batting average and .585 OPS. He had one good season in 2016 with the Red Sox, posting a 2.7 WAR. Outside of that and the 2017 season, he’s been a negative WAR player.

Leon will serve as a backup to Drake Baldwin, who is off to an MVP-type start, along with his teammate Matt Olson. Baldwin, however, cannot catch every single game, so Leon will be needed a few times until Murphy returns from the IL.

In the other move, Jose “Sugar” Azocar will head back to the big leagues. He’s spent time with the Detroit Tigers, San Diego Padres, New York Mets, and Braves. The plan is for him to serve as a depth piece until Ronald Acuna Jr is back from the IL.

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