Braves’ Sandy León left Triple-A Gwinnett for Mexican League; now he’s back

On April 24, Los Saraperos de Saltillo, a team in the Mexican League, announced the signing of catcher Sandy León.

Three weeks later — on Tuesday to be exact — León was back in the Braves’ clubhouse, back in the major leagues, back in the starting lineup for an MLB team.

He’s an unlikely addition to a first-place team that has lost one of its two top catchers to a long-term injury.

“Yeah, I was in (Triple-A) Gwinnett, then went to Mexico to play every day,” León explained in a conversation Saturday with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It feels good to keep playing almost every day, so I went to Mexico. I was playing good baseball. I mean, I know it’s not like big leagues. Got a call from the (Braves) — can’t say no to the big leagues, especially this organization that’s been really good to me the last three years. I respect everybody here.”

León played in 10 games for Saltillo and was just 4-for-36 from the plate, but he did draw four walks and drive in four runs. Plus, offensive prowess has never been León’s calling card anyway.

The 37-year-old from Venezuela has stuck around the game because of his abilities behind the plate — to call a game and to steal outs on the bases like he did Friday against the Red Sox (one of his former teams) by throwing out two would-be base stealers.

León nailed Mickey Gasper trying to steal second in the fourth and caught Ceddanne Rafaela trying to swipe third in the fifth. In the Braves’ clubhouse after Friday’s game, Spencer Strider tipped his hat to León for his efforts, as did Braves manager Walt Weiss both Friday and ahead of Saturday’s middle game of the three-game series.

“There’s still arm strength, and like I said (Friday) night, that throw to third, it doesn’t get any quicker than that. And accurate, right?” Weiss said. “Sandy’s great, man. He’s been through it all, been through all the wars. Really respected in this game, not only among his teammates, but everybody. So it’s great to be able to have a guy like that. Handling the pitching staff is where he really does his best work.”

Last Thursday marked León’s MLB debut 14 years ago. He has played for the Nationals, Red Sox, Indians, Marlins and Rangers. In 2024, he played in 79 games with Gwinnett, then 58 more in 2025 before making five appearances for the Braves between July 22 and Sept. 20.

The Braves also had León in spring training camp, where he went 1-for-14 in nine games, walked four times and totaled five strikeouts. León was then sent to Triple-A to start the year, where he played in 10 games and hit .118.

Wanting more playing time, León asked for his release and headed to Saltillo, Mexico. He was there when Braves catcher Sean Murphy had his left hand hit by the bat of the Dodgers’ Hyeseong Kim on a Kim swing that resulted in a broken finger for Murphy.

The Braves gave León a call and an offer, he talked it over with his wife and agent and headed back to Truist Park, where he was in the lineup for the first time Wednesday to catch rookie right-hander JR Ritchie.

“Try to win,” León said of his focus with the Braves. “Every time you get in there, every time you get a chance to call a game, you try to keep the game close. We got a lineup to score runs.

“My first game, it was 1-1, we end up winning. My second game, it was 2-2, we end up winning. So just try to call the game, stay on the same page with the pitching staff and the bullpen. With Drake (Baldwin) and ‘Murph,’ just talk about how they’ve been doing it. The communication’s been really, really good. That has made everything easy.”

As a bonus, León went 1-for-2 at the plate in Wednesday’s win over the Cubs, then 1-for-2 again in Friday’s win over the Red Sox. On Saturday, León went 0-for-3 at the plate but also caught all eight innings of Bryce Elder’s quality start.

In the 24 innings León has been behind the plate this week, the opposition has scored just six runs.

“I was talking with (Chris) Sale the other day and I was like, ‘I can’t imagine how many more pitches he’s caught than me,’” Baldwin said. “Like when you’ve seen that many pitches at the big-league level, you just pick up on so many different things, you see swings from that perspective. The help he gives of how to attack hitters, and certain things he sees that I would never even think to look for, it’s able to help me learn and get better behind the plate as well.”