Braves' William Contreras: Could start season in majors

Contreras heads into spring training with a chance to win the No. 2 catching job for Atlanta, Gabriel Burns of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.

At the moment, starter Travis d'Arnaud is the only catcher with significant experience on the roster, leaving prospects Contreras and Alex Jackson to fight for the backup spot. The 23-year-old Contreras made his big-league debut last year on an emergency basis, going 4-for-10 with four strikeouts before spending the rest of the season at the team's alternate training site. His 2019 performance at the plate at High-A and Double-A wasn't particularly impressive, but Contreras still has the potential to emerge as a solid big-league asset. Atlanta could still elect to bring in a veteran such as Tyler Flowers to fill out the depth chart, but barring an outside addition, Jackson might be the front-runner for the job, if only because Contreras is more likely to be a long-term piece for the team and could use more minor-league development.