The Diamondbacks announced Saturday that they’ve designated catcher John Ryan Murphy for assignment. His 25-man roster spot went to right-hander Taylor Clarke, whom the Diamondbacks recalled from Triple-A El Paso. Clarke started Arizona’s game in San Francisco on Saturday.
We may have seen the last of Murphy in Arizona, where he has played since the club acquired him from Minnesota for lefty Gabriel Moya in July 2017. Since then, Murphy’s just a .195/.243/.383 hitter in 299 plate appearances. The 28-year-old has taken 69 trips to the plate this season and slashed .177/.250/.419 with four home runs and a whopping 40.6 percent strikeout rate, though he has acted as the personal catcher for righty Zack Greinke. Murphy has caught all 11 of Greinke’s starts and graded as a plus pitch framer.
For the Diamondbacks, the decision to move on from Murphy shows they’re committed to giving more playing time to Carson Kelly, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic writes. Kelly, whom the team acquired from St. Louis in the offseason as part of the clubs’ Paul Goldschmidt trade, has come out of Yadier Molina’s shadow to perform well so far in 2019. He and Alex Avila will comprise the D-backs’ top two catchers going forward.
Mets need to get him for back up he would be an upgrade over Nido
Agreed.
Nido is a real catcher. Murphy is not. I’d rather Get Meseraco out of retirement if I want to upgrade on Nido.
San Francisco, open your golden gate…
Clarke was recalled from Triple-A Reno.
If he’d been at El Paso, he’d be a Padre.
Thank you for getting us hicks Murphy !
I would like to see the Yankees re-acquire him. He always performed well for them and they could use some catching depth. Romine is a free agent at the end of the year and will be 32. Murphy has about the same bat with a bit more pop and still has a couple of arb years left. He is a known commodity and a younger player who would be a solid backup to Sanchez for a couple of years. You never know he could also find his bat with a return to New York.
Probably a good acquisition for depth and options in the future as you said….although not sure his bat is the same as Romine and especially not sure about the pop but who knows….a change back to where he came from might work!
Is bat is nowhere near Romine’s. Maybe he hit well back when he was a Yankee, but it’s been 4 years of what is basically sub 200/250/400 hitting since then.
Is the picture really him about to get beaned in the head? Is that the only picture available?
That’s the moon shining in the evening sky silly!
’tis but a scratch
r/whoosh