ATLANTA — The Atlanta Braves acquired catcher Joey Bart from the Pittsburgh Pirates for right-handed pitcher Hunter Stratton on Thursday night.
Atlanta made room for Bart on the 40-man roster by designating catcher Sandy León for assignment. The Pirates assigned Stratton to Triple-A Indianapolis.
Bart was batting .259 with two homers, six RBIs and a .670 on-base plus slugging percentage in 21 games with Pittsburgh. He grew up in the Atlanta suburbs and played college ball in the city at Georgia Tech before being selected second overall by the San Francisco Giants in the 2018 MLB draft.
The Braves, who sit atop the National League East Division and are among the best teams in the majors this season, already have two fine catchers in 2025 NL rookie of the year Drake Baldwin and 2023 MLB All-Star selection Sean Murphy, but the latter is on the 60-day injured list with a broken finger and Baldwin just returned from his own IL stint earlier this week.
Stratton appeared in one game with the Braves this year and pitched a scoreless inning. He played for the Pirates from 2023-25 before getting traded to Atlanta last July.