The LA Angels reunite Ron Washington with the former catcher in their latest signing

Both the Angels’ manager and general manager have longstanding ties to catcher Travis d’Arnaud that clearly paid off this offseason. After spending the last five seasons with the Atlanta Braves, d’Arnaud is now officially a member of the Los Angeles Angels. He will re-sign with Ron Washington and Perry Minasian on a two-year, $12 million contract. This will be d’Arnaud’s fifth big league team after spending time with the New York Mets, Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Dodgers and Braves during his 12-year big league career.

Ron Washington is a great leader of men, but he was brought to the Angels to win games. While he can coach young players and show them what it means to be a professional, he clearly longed for “real baseball players” who could hold their own without having their hands held. d’Arnaud is exactly what he was looking for: a leader on and off the field who can drive the development of his young players – especially Logan O’Hoppe. Washington coached with the Braves from 2017 to 2023, overlapping with d’Arnaud for four seasons. Along with Jorge Soler, they won a World Series together in 2021.

Two qualities that were at the top of Perry Minasian’s wish list: veteran experience and power. d’Arnaud possesses both qualities in abundance, as does Soler. Like Kyle Hendricks, d’Arnaud is here primarily to help win on the field (both are from Southern California). However, the fact that the veterans can help optimize the Angels’ best practices will give them their money’s worth and more. Minasian is obviously looking for veteran experience for good reason: They need guys who can run the clubhouse and lead by example. Minasian also has ties to d’Arnaud from their time together with the Blue Jays and Braves.

Logan O’Hoppe’s 125 games caught last season were the third-highest total in the league, behind only Cal Raleigh and Shea Langeliers. That number should at least stay around 125 next season as the Angels have a deep supply of their blossoming young catcher. d’Arnaud will be 36 years old on Opening Day and hasn’t played much with Atlanta in recent years. He was more quality than quantity. Soler led the Braves in isolation last season, and d’Arnaud finished sixth. Defensively, d’Arnaud was above average last season at blocking balls in the dirt and catching runners stealing (despite a below-average pop time).

As a corresponding change, Guillo Zuñiga was scheduled for use.

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