“Braves sign Curt Casali to minors deal.”

The Braves have signed a catcher Curt Casali to a minor league contract, Aram Leighton of Just Baseball Media reports. Atlanta is Casalis’ 11th different organization in his 14 professional seasons.

The final 11 of those seasons came in the major leagues, with Casali making 543 career appearances with the Rays and Mariners, as well as two separate stints each with the Reds and Giants. Most recently, Casali played 41 times for San Francisco last season and then served as the starting backup catcher Tom Murphy missed the season due to a knee injury.

Casali has mostly worked as a backup or part-time starter, appearing in up to 84 games twice in his career (2016 with the Rays and 2019 with the Reds). His most productive stretch overall came in Cincinnati from 2018 to 2020, when he hit .260/.345/.440 in 485 plate appearances while more or less working timeshare Tucker Barnhart behind the plate. Casali’s offensive numbers have declined significantly since then, and he had just a .194/.293/.250 slash line in 125 PA with the Giants last season.

In 2024, his glove work also saw a decline, as Statcast rated his blocking, framing, and catch-stealing numbers all as below average. That could be a sign that he’s closing in on Casali as he enters his age-36 season, but he has a good reputation as a defensive catcher who works well with pitchers.

Atlanta declined his $8 million club option Travis d’Arnaudand the Braves’ longtime backstop then signed with the Angels in one of the most significant early moves of the offseason. Sean Murphy will try to bounce back from a down year as the Braves’ starting catcher and Chadwick Trump is entered as a replacement, although Casali and Sandy Leon are two well-traveled veterans who will provide some competition in spring training. The other name to keep in mind here is Drake Baldwinas the top prospect pitched well in 334 PA last season with Triple-A Gwinnett and is expected to make his MLB debut sometime in 2025.