The former Atlanta Braves All-Star catcher, cast onto the free agent market after his team declined an $8 million option for 2025, signed a two-year, $12 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels, the club announced Tuesday.
D’Arnaud, who turns 36 in February, was a key member of Braves teams that won four National League East titles and made five playoff appearances from 2020-2024. He hit 60 home runs and produced a .749 OPS in that span for Atlanta.
He hit a pair of home runs during Atlanta’s 2021 run to the World Series title, and had three two-hit games in their six-game conquest of Houston in that year’s Fall Classic.
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Yet after the Braves traded for Oakland’s Sean Murphy before the 2022 season, d’Arnaud fell into a timeshare role, though he caught the majority of games this year after Murphy suffered an oblique injury. He’ll be in a similar situation in Anaheim, where second-year player Logan O’Hoppe produced 20 homers and a 2.7 WAR season last season.
A resident of Lakewood, roughly halfway between Angel and Dodger Stadium, d’Arnaud may look to play recruiter now for the always pitching-hungry Angels. His next-door neighbor in Atlanta, L.A. native Max Fried, is a free agent, as is Fried’s high school teammate, Jack Flaherty.
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