When it was time to find a catcher last winter, Braves president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos asked the team’s catching coach, Sal Fasano, to make a recruiting pitch to Travis d'Arnaud.

Anthopoulos knew there was a bond between the two. He was the Blue Jays’ general manager back in 2011, when he assigned Fasano to serve as the manager of the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats, a club that also included another rising catcher named Yan Gomes.

“When you are developing [in the Minors], you’re developing Major League talent,” Fasano said. “When you’re here, you are literally trying to teach guys how to win. That’s the finishing product. To have Travis back is a wonderful progression. He learned a lot over the past few years and I think he has been humbled too. I think you have to be humbled in this game to have success. He’s in a really good place right now.”

With d’Arnaud going 6-for-10 with two doubles and two homers, the Braves swept the Marlins in the National League Division Series and will now begin the NL Championship Series against the Dodgers on Monday night.

d’Arnaud grew up a Dodgers fan and actually played one game for them last year, between being released by the Mets and joining the Rays. New York opted to part ways with the catcher, who missed most of 2018 while recovering from Tommy John surgery and then went 2-for-23 through his first 10 games in 2019.

Asked recently if the Mets had given up on him too soon, d’Arnaud managed to keep a serious look on his face while saying, “No, I went 1-for-22. You can’t blame them. I didn’t play well.”

So, along with being a pretty good catcher, he also has a good sense of humor.

d’Arnaud’s 1.6 FWAR (FanGraphs' WAR Model) ranked fifth among MLB catchers, trailing only Salvador Perez (1.9), Austin Nola (1.7), J.T. Realumuto (1.7) and Yasmani Grandal (1.7). In other words, his two-year, $16 million deal currently looks like a bargain.

Though d’Arnaud didn’t have much introduction to analytics during his time with the Mets, he benefited from the preparations he learned while spending the final few months of 2019 with the Rays. The knowledge he gained has allowed him to have a better appreciation of what can be learned from working with Fasano and veteran Tyler Flowers, who has become a valuable mentor while easing into the backup catcher role this year.

“Travis was talking to Flowers the other day and was like, ‘I really appreciate you talking to me,’” Fasano said. “[Flowers] said, ‘Well, yeah, because I care more about winning than I do my stats.”

Changing sites: After working out in Houston on Friday, the Braves traveled to Dallas on Saturday. They will work out at the brand new Globe Life Field in Arlington on Sunday and then begin their best-of-seven series against the Dodgers on Monday night.

Fans in the stands: The Braves will be reintroduced to more of a normal setting when 11,500 fans will be allowed to attend each of the NLCS games.

“I was getting used to no fans,” Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman said. “So it will be another transition. But it’s going to be fun. This is what it’s all about. We play this game for the fans. For a quarter of the stadium to be able to come in to see baseball again, it’s going to be awesome.”