Sunday: The A’s have confirmed Murphy’s promotion.
Saturday: With the end of August ushering in the expansion of MLB rosters, the Athletics are set to promote catcher Sean Murphy to make his Major League debut when the calendar turns to September, per Martin Gallegos of MLB.com.
Murphy, 24, is regarded as the Athletics’ best position-player prospect and is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 44 overall prospect in baseball. A 2016 third-round draft selection, Murphy has caught scouts’ attention with his refined defensive game behind the plate, drawing rave reviews for his arm strength to go along with developing game-calling, blocking, and receiving. His defensive-minded profile means that he has all the makings of a solid MLB regular, even if he never actualizes his full offensive potential.
That’s not to say that there isn’t some offensive talent here, though. Spending the 2019 season at Triple-A, Murphy has enjoyed the best offensive season of his career. With a .293/.384/.580 batting line, Murphy has posted a 135 wRC+ this season—meaning that he grades out 35% better than average—an impressive mark even when considering the boosted offensive environment in Triple-A. Eric Longenhagen and Kiley McDaniel of Fangraphs project Murphy to be “a high-contact bat with doubles power” as a Major Leaguer, no doubt an acceptable profile by catcher standards.
In Oakland, Murphy will join the current combination of Josh Phegley and Chris Herrmann behind the plate, the only other catchers on the 40-man roster. On the whole, that duo has provided lackluster offensive production from the catcher position, so Murphy could step into semi-regular playing time in his first taste of the big leagues. With the A’s promoting another highly-regarded prospect, Murphy could represent a sort of late-season reinforcement for a team in position to return to the postseason. Having recently promoted top prospect A.J. Puk and in position to welcome back Sean Manaea, Oakland looks to have strengthened its roster for the season’s final month without having to make any transactions.
Let’s go quit playing Herrmann
This!!! Even Phegley’s passed balls and horrid framing are getting annoying.
I’d love to see what they have in both Heim and Murphy next month.
Just dropped Travis d’Arnaud for Sean Murphy as my #2 catcher. With Will Smith ad my primary, my catching tandem is ridiculous.
so dope
I have Mitch Garver and Gary Sanchez
He’s going to be the best catcher in decades, my gut just has a really good feeling about that bat profile and he’s already a borderline elite defender.
Luzardo has to be getting the call next. His last start in AAA was eye popping.
nope, Barreto and Blackburn are getting the call next..
Yes, I meant “Luzardo getting the call next” after Murphy, Barreto and Blackburn, who all got called up at the same time. 5-7 days after his last start, he’s most likely coming.
The A’s bought up Anderson and Cahill for the 2009 Opening Day rotation direct from AA as 20 year olds, that should tell you how much they don’t care about starting clocks. Luzardo is hands down the best arm in the org and was due to get the Opening Day start -this season- before getting hurt, he’s coming and he might even start in the playoffs if the A’s get past the WC.
Good chance that Luzardo doesn’t get the call until May 2020 to stagger him and Puk’s clocks a year
A’s have NEVER played the service time game, I don’t know where this narrative comes from…
Neither actually. Manaea is getting activated to fill the last spot. But maybe soon.
Over-hyped
dumb troll
The A’s should move to Las Vegas and the AAA team should move to Oakland.
Only thing vegas gets is Oakland rejects like the raiders.
^^i can’t like this enough!
The A’s need to build a park on the other side of the Bay and the RAYS should move to San Jose. The Bay Area has the most money and people, why on earth is a city with a NHL and MLS team “not good enough” for anything more than an A-ball team? Insulting. There’s more people in SJ than SF and OAK combined and the Sharks and Quakes have some of the strongest fanbases in their leagues. MLB needs SJ. The Rays should go there, they can even keep their nickname because it pairs with the Sharks!
This might be the most ignorant comment about anything…ever.
Hey cool comment. Totally not “im a dumb hater who hates being told the cold truth” vibe at all!!!