During the offseason the Braves added catcher Sean Murphy to the roster to pair up with veteran Travis d’Arnaud, Dukes & Bell talked about how recent rule changes will help make this the best tandem in baseball.
Carl talked about a rule change that will make the Braves trade for Murphy shine.
“One of MLB’s new rules is a limit on pitcher pickoff moves to first base, why is this important and what is it gonna mean for our guys?,” Dukes said. “It makes a catcher with a strong and accurate arm like Sean Murphy even more valuable, I think we could have the best tandem of catchers in the league. We call him “lil d”, Travis d’Arnaud and obviously now Sean Murphy.”
Dukes talked about what the Braves got in Murphy.
“Murphy guys, If you’re not one of these baseball purists you’re probably not paying attention because he played for the A’s. But if you talk to guys that are in the scouting departments of major league baseball like I have this guy rates as one of the top catchers in the league. He wasn’t getting that exposure, he’s an all-star there with the A’s but the A’s are not a good team so you don’t look at it in the same way that you might if he was coming from a winning organization. The point of it is we’re gonna be better defensively because he does have a strong arm, an accurate arm and now the limit on pitchers pick off throws to first base he’s gonna keep guys put, in check, you’re not gonna try to run on a guy like that.”