Athletics catcher Sean Murphy underwent a lateral meniscal debridement procedure on his left knee today, as per a team announcement. The surgery addresses the meniscus problems that plagued Murphy this season (leading to a pair of stints on the Triple-A injured list), and the young backstop “is expected to be ready for Spring Training.”
Knee surgery isn’t exactly the best way to celebrate a birthday, as Murphy turns 25 years old today. But, given how the youngster performed in his first taste of MLB action even while not at 100 percent, a clean bill of health makes Murphy seem like an even more intriguing prospect going forward, and a strong candidate to assume the everyday catching duties for the Athletics for next season.
Murphy hit .245/.333/.566 with four home runs over his first 60 Major League plate appearances, all but one of which took place in September. With the A’s battling for a wild card berth, Murphy’s performance earned him an increasingly larger share of the playing time alongside veteran catcher Josh Phegley, and Murphy ended up getting the start in Oakland’s wild card game loss to the Rays.
After three impressive years at Wright State, Murphy was a third-round pick for the A’s in the 2016 draft and continued to impress as he worked his way up the minor league ladder. Murphy hit .267/.341/.456 over 966 career PA in the minors, showing up strong offensive potential to go along with his highly-touted defensive skills. Fangraphs ranks Murphy as the 29th-best prospect in baseball, with MLB.com (43rd) and Baseball America (52nd) also issuing strong placements on their top-100 prospects lists.
Who will have the better career – Will Smith or Sean Murphy?
Will Smith was never even that good-hitting of a prospect until this year and faded later on. id take Murphy, but LAD is certainly spolied with Kiebert, Smith, Wong and more all in their system.
Murphy might be the best catcher in baseball in quick order. He already even looks like Realmuto, he could easily be a clone of his in quick order, maybe even a better hitting profile, if healthy.
Smith played well but he kinda took a big leap in the power department and that inflated all his metrics. Need to see more. Murphy’s tools are insane already.
Are you the user formally known as justinturneroverdrive, or also formally known Just Another Fan?
no???
why? who hurt you?
Will Smith was good in Men in Black
Maybe Sean Murphy should’ve paid a visit to The Good Doctor Sean Murphy and he might have a quicker recovery.
Huh!!??
Talented A’s… Future is so bright for the Oakland Athletics…
Or Las Vegas A’s
Doubtful they sign chapman long term. Semien is gone after 2020. Olson and laureano i could see as signable. Better hope davis and piscotty have bettwr seasons next year since a good chunk of payrool is due to their contracts
They can offer Semien a QO though, and if he takes it, he will enter the FA market at 31, which apparently means you cannot get a long term deal anymore. Slight chance they keep him around on the cheap, especially if he takes the QO, which will be like $18-20M by then. then offer him like 3/55 or thereabouts. Maybe local guy Semien would do that to stay in his hometown?
Since when has a local guy taken a discount?