It’s a disheartening way to end what was a very fine big league career. Simply making it to the Majors after being a 33rd-round pick by the Braves back in 2005 is an accomplishment on its own, but Flowers went on to spend parts of a dozen seasons in the big leagues — all of which were spent with the White Sox or Braves.

Atlanta initially traded Flowers to the ChiSox as part of a package that sent Javier Vazquez and Boone Logan to Atlanta in Dec. 2008. Flowers would make his MLB debut the following season in 2009, and he spent parts of the next seven seasons as a backstop with the South Siders. His bat didn’t come around to the levels that the Sox had hoped when he was regarded as one of the organization’s top prospects, but Flowers’ defensive contributions were significant. Moreover, his top-of-the-scale ratings in the early days of pitch-framing metrics helped to shine a light on an element that is now widely accepted as a critical component of catcher defense.

That framing ability and a knack for hitting left-handed pitching no doubt contributed to the Braves’ interest when he reached free agency in the 2015-16 offseason. Flowers returned to his original organization on a two-year, $5.3MM deal with a third-year option, and he parlayed that into a pair of additional seasons donning a Braves uniform. His bat improved quite a bit in Atlanta, particularly in his first two seasons back with the club. While the degenerative condition in his back may have impacted him in his final years, Flowers’ framing remained sharp up through last year’s 60-game sprint — which will now prove to be his final season in the Majors.

All told, Flowers will retire as a career .237/.319/.391 hitter with 86 home runs, 111 doubles, five triples, 267 runs scored and 301 knocked in. He went 3-for-11 in limited postseason action with the Braves from 2018-20 and was part of three straight division winners in his final few years. Overall, Flowers took home more than $23MM in salary over a 12-year MLB career that was valued at 20 WAR by FanGraphs, largely on the strength of his work behind the plate.

Flowers had taken an off-field role with the Braves organization prior to re-signing that minor league deal, wherein he helped incorporate data from the club’s analytics department into game preparation. He’ll return to that role, Bowman notes, meaning the Georgia native will continue to try to help his hometown club achieve a fourth consecutive NL East crown and return to the World Series for the first time since 1999.

12:22pm: The Braves have re-signed veteran catcher Tyler Flowers to a minor league contract, reports David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (via Twitter). The O’Connell Sports client will head to Triple-A Gwinnett for the time being.

O’Brien reported last month that Flowers had taken a non-playing role in the Braves organization, helping to blend data from the team’s analytics department with game preparation. The door for a potential return was seemingly left open, and the recent injuries to Travis d’Arnaud and Alex Jackson have brought about a more acute need. The Braves recently selected the contract of light-hitting but defensively sound veteran Jeff Mathis, and for now he’s being paired with prospect William Contreras behind the dish.

Flowers, 35, hit just .217/.325/.348 in a tiny sample of 80 plate appearances with the Braves last year. He racked up 1300 plate appearances from 2016-19, however, hitting at a .254/.350/.412 clip along the way. Flowers was one of the early focuses of the game’s increasing interest in pitch framing, as he’s long rated among the game’s best at getting borderline pitches called for his staff.

It’s not clear at this time whether the Braves will get d’Arnaud back in 2021. He’s slated to undergo surgery to repair a torn ligament in the thumb on his catching hand, and while the Braves are hopeful he’ll be available late in the year, no official timeline has been provided.

David O’Brien of the Athletic sheds some light on the situation, reporting that the 35-year-old has taken a non-playing position with the Braves, integrating analytics into in-game preparation. Flowers, however, has not retired as a player and continues to work out independently in case he decides to return to the field at some point, either in 2021 or in future seasons, O’Brien adds. It’s unclear if the Roswell, Georgia native remains open to all potential playing opportunities, or if his return to an MLB diamond would be contingent on doing so with the Braves. Given that Flowers lives with his wife and kids near the Braves stadium, this feels like a unique opportunity to keep a contingency plan in place for both Flowers and the Braves.

Alex Jackson is the current backup to Travis d’Arnaud, with William Contreras also on the 40-man roster. Veteran defensive specialist Jeff Mathis is also in the organization on the Triple-A roster. Both d’Arnaud and Jackson are off to relatively slow starts at the plate. As recently as last season Flowers made 80 trips to the dish across 22 games, slashing .217/.325/.348 in his fifth season in Atlanta. Flowers is a 12-year veteran who split his career between the Braves and White Sox. He owns a .237/.319/.391 line over 2,776 plate appearances for his career.

The Mets’ first-string spot behind the plate belongs to James McCann, whom they signed to a four-year, $40.6MM contract in free agency. Tomas Nido is slated to begin the season as the club’s backup, but the 26-year-old has typically posted woeful offensive numbers. Patrick Mazeika, the other catcher on the Mets’ 40-man roster, is a 27-year-old who hasn’t played above Double-A ball to this point. The Mets also have vets Caleb Joseph and Bruce Maxwell on hand as non-roster invitees, though their track records in the majors pale in comparison to Flowers’.

Formerly a member of the White Sox and Braves, Flowers, 35, has mixed high-grade pitch-framing skills with passable offense over the past several seasons. He ended his five-year Braves tenure with a .251/.349/.408 batting line (good for a 102 wRC+) in 1,381 plate appearances, but he hit a less impressive .217/.325/.348 last year while playing second fiddle to ex-Met Travis d’Arnaud.

JULY 28: The Braves have opened the season without first- and second-string catchers Travis d’Arnaud and Tyler Flowers, but it doesn’t seem as if either will be on the shelf for much longer. Manager Brian Snitker indicated Tuesday that the team could activate at least one of them before its game against the Rays on Wednesday, Mark Bowman of MLB.com writes.

Both d’Arnaud and Flowers have been shelved in the early stages of this season after exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, though neither player has tested positive for the illness. Their absences have left the Braves with Alex Jackson and William Contreras behind the plate.

D’Arnaud was a key offseason pickup for the Braves, who signed him to a two-year, $16MM contract after he enjoyed one of his best seasons as a member of the Rays in 2019. The 31-year-old, once a premium prospect, saw injuries weigh him down all too often as a Met during his first several seasons in the league.

Flowers, 34, has been a reliable producer for the Braves dating back to 2016, having hit .254/.350/.412 (104 wRC+) across 1,301 plate appearances in their uniform. He is also known as one of the game’s premier pitch-framing backstops.

It’s a sudden depletion of the Braves’ catching depth and a stark reminder of how quickly a club’s depth can be compromised in a strange 2020 season. Jackson will be unexpectedly thrust into a starting role for at least today — the timeline for d’Arnaud and Flowers to return can’t be known just yet — despite having just four MLB games under his belt. The former No. 6 overall draft pick carries plenty of power but has also had longstanding issues making contact (career 30 percent strikeout rate in the minors — 34 percent in Triple-A). His defense, too, has been an ongoing question that has resulted in Jackson at times getting looks in the corner outfield.

Contreras, the younger brother of Cubs star Willson Contreras, has never appeared in a Triple-A game — let alone in the big leagues. He’s a well-regarded catching prospect, but his .255/.315/.354 output at the plate between Class-A Advanced and Double-A in 2019 was a notable step back from 2018’s .285/.347/.436.

Both d’Arnaud and Flowers will technically be placed on the Covid-19 IL as a means of facilitating the promotion of Jackson and Contreras. Unlike other injured lists, however, there’s no minimum stay on the Covid-19 IL. It remains to be seen just when d’Arnaud and Flowers will be cleared to return, though the hope is that both catcher’s symptoms will be abate in short order.

I recently explored what an extension might look like for Realmuto, and the pros and cons that both he and the team will be weighing in trying to work out a deal.  Both sides have expressed mutual interest in an extension dating back to the end of last season, and Realmuto continued to be optimistic that a multi-year agreement can be reached.  “I could see myself staying in Philly and playing my entire career here,” Realmuto told NBC Sports Philadelphia’s John Clark.  “Also being one year away from free agency, that wouldn’t be a bad thing for me either, but I don’t think it will get to that.  I think the Phillies and myself could line up pretty well.”

More buzz from around the NL East…

• Jed Lowrie’s first season with the Mets saw him limited to eight plate appearances and nine games due to a variety of leg problems, and these injury concerns appear to still be an issue heading into the 2020 campaign.  Lowrie wore a brace on his left leg during his first day in Spring Training camp, and told reporters (including Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News) that the brace “alleviates my symptoms and makes me feel like myself.”  Aside from saying that his left knee was the main cause of his leg problems, Lowrie didn’t provide much detail on his condition, saying that he was planning to participate in camp exercises with an eye towards being ready for Opening Day.  It remains to be seen how (or even if) Lowrie will be deployed by the Mets this season, as he’ll be fighting for playing time within their crowded infield and might yet still end up on another team, if the Mets can find a taker for his contract.
• Matt Adams might be the latest name to join the Mets’ outfield picture, as the veteran tells Newsday’s Tim Healey that he is working out as a left fielder.  Adams appeared in 34 games as a left fielder in 2017-18 but left field is “still a fairly new position for me, so the more reps the better,” he said.  “I think just getting with the coaching staff and seeing how I can incorporate both — get my work in at first base, get work in in the outfield and get more comfortable out there.”  Adams signed a minor league deal with the Mets last month, and since his natural first base position is blocked by Pete Alonso, any positional flexibility can only help Adams’ chances of winning a spot on the 26-man roster.
• Tyler Flowers is entering his fifth season behind the plate for the Braves, set to again participate in another timeshare, this time with the newly-signed Travis d’Arnaud.  The club’s strategy of more or less splitting the playing time between two catchers every season is a sound one, Flowers tells Steve Hummer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, as “It has been a good way to balance starts and kind of keep both catchers fresh.”  Relying on a more traditional starter/backup allotment of playing time would make things tough on an everyday catcher since “It’s extremely difficult to start 120 [games] in Atlanta.  With the conditions, it makes it almost impossible.  I have a more difficult time than most with the heat and sweating and cramping, so I know it would be a challenge for me.”

Flowers, 34 in January, didn’t have his best season at the plate but remains a highly regarded pitch framer. And while his .229/.319/.413 batting line checked in at 12 to 14 percent below that of a league-average hitter, per metrics like wRC+ (88) and OPS+ (86), it was still better than that of the league-average catcher (85 wRC+). The Atlanta organization will surely be on the lookout for catching help this offseason — their other catcher in 2019, Brian McCann, already announced his retirement — but having Flowers on hand as a quality, framing-oriented backup with some pop in his bat makes plenty of sense given the affordable nature of the contract.

Looking to other defensive components behind the plate, Flowers had his share of struggles. His 16 passed balls allowed led the league, so it’s no surprise to see that he rated near the bottom of the league in terms of pitch blocking over at Baseball Prospectus. His 19 percent caught-stealing rate was also a ways below the 26 percent league average. All that said, however, Flowers’ elite framing ranked fourth in the game, per Baseball Prospectus, who rated him as the game’s ninth-most-valuable defender in spite of those blocking and throwing woes. Flowers also drew a positive mark with four Defensive Runs Saved — his ninth straight season with a positive DRS rating.

12:01am: Braves catcher Brian McCann left Saturday’s game after suffering a right hamstring strain that will almost certainly result in a stint on the injured list.  McCann suffered the injury sliding into third base during the fourth inning of Atlanta’s 4-2 loss to the Marlins, and left the field under the observation of team trainers.

If that wasn’t enough of a blow to the Braves’ catching corps, Tyler Flowers replaced McCann behind the plate and was then hit on the right hand during a fifth-inning at-bat against Miami’s Tayron Guerrero.  Flowers toughed it out for the remainder of the evening, and x-rays on his injured hand didn’t reveal any fractures, the catcher told MLB.com’s Mark Bowman and other reporters after the game.  While an IL placement doesn’t seem likely at this point, Flowers did think he might need a day or two to recover, leaving Atlanta rather short-staffed behind the place.

McCann signed a one-year, $2MM contract to return to Atlanta this offseason, teaming up with Flowers as the platoon replacement for Kurt Suzuki.  McCann was keen to return to his home state and hopes to rebound from a lackluster 2018 season that saw him hit just .212/.301/.339 over 216 PA for the Astros.  Knee injuries plagued McCann over his two years in Houston, and he missed two months last season after undergoing surgery.

Alex Jackson will be in Atlanta prior to Sunday’s game to take McCann’s spot on the 25-man roster, manager Brian Snitker told reporters (including Bowman).  Assuming Flowers is still sore, Jackson is on pace to make his Major League debut, close to five years after being selected sixth overall by the Mariners in the 2014 draft.

Jackson was originally a catcher in high school before the Mariners moved him to the outfield upon his draft selection.  Both MLB.com and Baseball America ranked Jackson within the top 30 prospects in baseball prior to the 2015 season, though his stock began to drop after a pair of forgettable seasons in Seattle’s farm system.  Even with these struggles in mind, it was still rather surprising when Jackson was unceremoniously dealt to the Braves as part of a four-player trade in November 2016, though Jackson hasn’t done much since joining Atlanta’s organization to regain his past blue chip status.

The Braves did switch Jackson back behind the plate prior to the 2017 season, however, which has opened the door for his first taste of big league action.  MLB.com cites Jackson as the 28th-best prospect in Atlanta’s system, describing his likely future in the Show “as a power-only backup backstop with decent catch and throw skills.”  The same scouting report credits Jackson with improved defense as he has readjusted to his old position, though pitch-blocking remains an issue.  Still just 23 years old, Jackson has hit .234/.317/.410 over 1580 career plate appearances in the minors.

If Flowers can’t play over the short term but also isn’t hurt enough to require an IL placement, it leaves Atlanta in a bit of a catching crunch.  Rafael Lopez is available at Triple-A, though the Braves would have to make another move to add Lopez to the 40-man roster.  Charlie Culberson is Atlanta’s emergency catcher and could back Jackson up for a couple of days at most, though Culberson didn’t think he’d played catcher since he was a ten-year-old.

12:36pm: The Braves have agreed to an extension with catcher Tyler Flowers, according to Jon Heyman of Fancred (Twitter links). He’ll receive a $6MM guarantee, including a $4MM salary for 2019 and a $2MM buyout for a 2020 option year that will cost $6MM if exercised. Flowers is represented by O’Connell Sports Management.

It’s not terribly unusual for veteran players to reach shorter-term extensions at this stage of the season, but this contract still rates as a surprise. Flowers has been a quality performer since coming to Atlanta before the 2016 season, after all, and likely would have drawn interest from a fair number of other organizations had he waited to return to the open market.

Flowers, 32, carries a strong .264/.365/.409 batting line with the Braves. While he has trended south in terms of output in 2018, he’s also walking at a much-improved 13.5% rate. And batted-ball measures suggest he’s still capable of doing plenty of damage.

True, Flowers was somewhat fortunate to carry batting averages on balls in play of .366 and .342 in his first two seasons with the Atlanta organization. This year, he’s back down to .286 while carrying only a .110 isolated slugging mark. While it’s tempting to label that regression to the mean, it may well be that he’s actually experience markedly poor fortunate in 2018. Indeed, Statcast credits him with a strong .368 xwOBA, in contrast to the .317 wOBA that has actually resulted.

Notably, too, Flowers has graded consistently as one of the best pitch framers in all of baseball over the past several seasons. That’s a skill that the market would have valued. Flowers is generally regarded as at least a solid backstop in other regards, leaving him as an overall positive on the defensive side of the equation.

Given the always-limited supply of quality backstops, it seemed Flowers was well-placed to have his pick of opportunities. He’d likely be viewed as a possible starter or heavily-used timeshare candidate by a variety of organizations. It’s certainly arguable he’d be seen as a more desirable player than some or all of last winter’s highest-paid backstops, including Welington Castillo (two years, $15MM), Jonathan Lucroy (one year, $6.5MM), and Chris Iannetta (two years, $8.5MM).

Certainly, there were no guarantees that Flowers would have done significantly better in free agency. This winter’s market will certainly include some high-quality alternatives. And it’s reasonable to assume that the deal works out for Flowers. No doubt, the fact that he’s a Georgia native played into the decisionmaking.

Nevertheless, the signing leaves the Braves with a high-quality player at an appealing price for next year, with an extra season of flexible control to boot. That the organization was able to get a head start on its 2019 checklist even while trying to finish out an exceedingly exciting 2018 season represents a positive outcome for the club.

With Flowers on the books, the Braves now have a major box checked without breaking the bank. The club will likely pursue another backstop, which could (but need not) be a significant player, depending upon the other opportunities available.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Fellow receiver Tyler Flowers will make his return from the DL, which left the team without a need for Perez. The Atlanta organization also elected to bring up righty Chase Whitley while optioning Matt Wisler back to Triple-A.

Perez had a chance to make a case to be retained by the Braves after being acquired from the Angels at the outset of the season. But he managed just three singles and a walk in his 22 plate appearances for the Braves. Though he has hit the ball well at times in the minors, Perez is just a .221/.264/.325 hitter over 617 total trips to the dish at the game’s highest level.

On the pitching side, the Braves will fill out their pen by calling upon Whitley, who was acquired from the Rays over the winter. He has thrown 12 1/3 innings of 3.65 ERA ball thus far at Triple-A, with ten strikeouts against three walks. A veteran of four MLB campaigns, two apiece with the Yankees and Rays, Whitley will be joining the Braves’ MLB roster for the first time.

As for Wisler, he raised hopes with a strong season debut in which he racked up eight strikeouts without issuing a walk in seven two-hit innings. But he coughed up three free passes, nine hits, and four earned runs without recording a single K in his next outing. For now, then, the former top prospect will head back to Gwinnett and wait for another opportunity.

After 310 total frames of 5.20 ERA ball in the majors, Wisler remains in a somewhat precarious roster position. That said the Braves have cleared several 40-man spots in recent weeks, so the pressure shouldn’t be felt immediately, particularly given the team’s ongoing need for rotation depth and the fact that Wisler’s first two outings at Triple-A were quite good.

The 32-year-old backstop suffered the injury in his first at-bat of the season in yesterday’s opener. As Gabriel Burns of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution noted yesterday after Flowers exited the game, he’d been slowed by a groin issue in Spring Training that created enough concern for the Braves to carry three catchers to begin the season. Veteran Chris Stewart made the Braves’ roster after signing a non-guaranteed big league deal this offseason, and he’ll now likely serve as the backup to Kurt Suzuki for the foreseeable future, as Suzuki steps into the role of manager Brian Snitker’s primary catcher.

It’s a tough blow for the Braves, who enjoyed a career year from Flowers in 2017. Long regarded as a quality defensive catcher, Flowers took his offensive game to new heights last season when he slashed .281/.378/.445 with a dozen homers in 370 trips to the plate. That marked a continuation of the improvements he showed in his first season of a two-year deal (plus a 2018 option) with the Braves, as Flowers has followed up seven underwhelming offensive campaigns with the White Sox to hit .276/.368/.433 for the Braves — the team that originally selected him in both the 2004 and 2005 drafts.

With Flowers on the shelf, Atlanta will look to Suzuki to build upon on his own career year from 2017. The 34-year-old Suzuki hit .283/.351/.536 with a career-best 19 homers last year in 309 PAs for the Braves. Rather than test the open market, Suzuki instead agreed to a one-year, $3.5MM extension with Atlanta late last September.

Socolovich, 31, has spent the past three seasons in the Cardinals organization, totaling 66 1/3 innings of relief work and posting a 3.80 ERA with 7.7 K/9, 2.6 BB/9 and a 44.1 percent ground-ball rate. Socolovich has averaged just 90.6 mph on his heater in that time but has gotten by thanks to a knack for limiting hard contact (27.8 percent hard-hit rate, 16.4 percent line-drive rate) and inducing pop-ups (14.4 percent infield-fly rate).

The decision to exercise Flowers’ affordable option was among the easiest calls in baseball this offseason. The 31-year-old Flowers (32 in January) enjoyed a career year at the plate, hitting .281/.378/.445 with a dozen homers and 16 doubles. He also rated as baseball’s top pitch-framing catcher, per Baseball Prospectus, and he halted 23 percent of stolen base attempts against the Braves’ pitching staff in 2017. Flowers will once again pair with Kurt Suzuki, who signed a late-season extension with the Braves, to shoulder the bulk of the catching duties for the Braves in 2018.

Dickey, 43 this weekend, was one of three veteran acquisitions for the Braves’ rotation last offseason and proved to be the only one that truly panned out. Bartolo Colon was released over the summer, while Atlanta was content to simply allow the Twins to eat the remainder of the salary on left-hander Jaime Garcia’s contract and took less in return than they surrendered to acquire Garcia when dumping him on Minnesota.

Dickey, though, proved to be exactly what the Braves hoped: a stabilizing innings eater that soaked up some starts while the Braves’ young arms continued their development in the upper minors. The knuckleball specialist took the hill 31 times for the Braves, with his final outing of the year representing his 300th career start and his 400th career MLB appearance. In those 31 starts, he logged 190 innings with a 4.26 ERA, 6.4 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 and a 46.9 percent ground-ball rate.

There’s been talk that the 2017 season may have been the final chapter of Dickey’s career, though his overall performance certainly seems to suggest that he could return for a 16th Major League season if he still has the desire to continue pitching.

The Braves, clearly, are now set at catcher with Flowers and Suzuki in tow for the 2018 campaign, but their rotation presents a far bigger question mark. Julio Teheran and Mike Foltynewicz both struggled through pedestrian campaigns in 2017, while top prospect Sean Newcomb yielded slightly better results but continued to demonstrate sub-par control. Each of Lucas Sims, Luiz Gohara and Max Fried made his MLB debut for the Braves in 2017, but none from that group of top prospects saw enough time or experienced enough success to be considered locks to hold down a 2018 rotation spot. Atlanta also has former top prospects Aaron Blair and Matt Wisler on the 40-man roster, but neither has created much cause for optimism in the Majors to this point in his career.

Suffice it to say, while the Braves possess a wealth of intriguing upper-level arms, it’d be something of a surprise if the team did not once again look to bring in some veteran arms to augment a young core of talented but unproven rotation candidates.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

• The Braves are “believed to be leaning toward” keeping Brian Snitker to manage in 2018, Bradley writes. Snitker met with Braves brass yesterday. While the team hasn’t made a final decision, and while it seems likely the team will make coaching changes even if it doesn’t dismiss its manager, GM John Coppolella characterizes the meeting as a “productive” one. Snitker’s status has been a subject of speculation over the last week, as it has looked at various points like the Braves could aim to replace Snitker with special assistant Bo Porter or third base coach Ron Washington, both of whom have MLB managerial experience. The Braves have an option on Snitker’s services for 2018.
• Looking forward to 2018, Coppolella believes the Braves will get younger. “We’ve got arguably the best prospect in the game (Ronald Acuna) pushing his way up to Atlanta. He’s going to be given every opportunity in Spring Training,” Coppolella says. “When he’s ready, nobody’s going to stand in his way. I said the same thing about Ozzie Albies this spring, and it’s the same way.” Elsewhere, Coppolella notes that it’s possible the team could trade Matt Kemp or Nick Markakis to clear space, although that acknowledgement seems to have come in response to a direct question from Bradley.
• Coppolella says the team “needs to make a decision” on R.A. Dickey’s club option for 2018. Other than that, the team “won’t be playing in big free-agent pitching waters,” preferring instead to give opportunities to younger pitchers. Dickey’s option is worth $8MM or a $500K buyout. He’s posted a 4.32 ERA, 6.5 K/9 and 3.3 BB/9 while eating 183 1/3 innings this season and would seem to be an asset at that price, although he’ll turn 43 next month. Dickey’s option is a team option, although Coppolella notes that Dickey too “needs to make a decision on whether he’s coming back,” perhaps referring to the possibility Dickey could retire. (About 70% of MLBTR readers believe the Braves should exercise Dickey’s option, via a recent poll by Jeff Todd.)
• The Braves’ biggest priority this winter will be relief pitching Coppolella says. The team will look for one reliever or “preferably two.” The Braves’ bullpen’s 4.62 ERA this season has ranked fourth worst in the Majors.
• The Braves have already extended Kurt Suzuki, and Coppolella repeats they’re likely to exercise fellow catcher Tyler Flowers’ $4MM option as well (rather than paying him a $300K buyout). That the Braves would plan to exercise such a cheap option comes as little surprise after Flowers’ strong .286/.378/.445 season. Also unsurprisingly, Coppolella indicates that he’s happy about the Braves’ catcher position for 2018.
• The Braves, of course, haven’t contended in 2017, although with 70 wins, they’re already topped their 2016 total. “We’re going from 67 wins to 68 wins to 70-something wins,” says Coppolella, who emphasizes the contributions of young players (including, one assumes, rookies like Albies, Johan Camargo and Sean Newcomb, along with even newer arrivals like September callup Luiz Gohara). “We’re seeing us do it with young players. A big point for me is that you’re not seeing starts go to Joel De La Cruz. You’re not seeing innings go to Jake Brigham or Ryan Kelly. We’re doing it with kids.”

“This has worked great this year and we want to see if it can work as well in 2018 too,” Coppolella said of the Flowers-Suzuki tandem (via David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, on Twitter).

Retaining Flowers should be an easy call for the Braves, who have witnessed the 31-year-old turn into a quality all-around backstop in their uniform. Flowers took an unusual route to do so, as he first joined the Braves as a 33rd-round pick in 2005 before heading to the White Sox in a 2008 trade (one that saw Javier Vazquez go to Atlanta) and then returning to his native Georgia as a free agent in December 2015.

During his two seasons as a Brave, Flowers has mixed above-average offensive production – including a .283/.377/.444 line in 345 plate appearances this year – with brilliant work as a receiver. While Flowers threw out a mere 5 percent of attempted base stealers last year and has caught only 19 percent this season, ranking well below the 27 percent league average, both Baseball Prospectus and StatCorner have placed him among the game’s very best pitch framers in the same time period.

All told, Flowers and Suzuki have been worth 4.5 fWAR this year, making them one of the top backstop duos in the majors in their first season together. Even if there’s some regression from the Braves’ catchers in 2018, they should still form a cost-effective pairing at a combined $7.5MM.

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