Tom Murphy reflects on his 482 foot home run

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DENVER — Yesterday afternoon, Colorado Rockies rookie catcher Tom Murphy entered the game against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the seventh inning as a pinch-hitter and boy did he ever hit.

Murphy unloaded on a pitch “fastball, middle-in. More in,” he says, “I was just hoping it would stay fair.”

He says he knew it was gone if it was fair, and that makes sense considering it travelled 482 feet. According to Statcast, that makes it the fourth longest home run in MLB this season behind Giancarlo Stanton twice and fellow Rockie Mark Reynolds.

The rookie catcher with just 14 games under his belt was not yet aware of the distance and so I asked if he wanted to know. “Sure,” he replied.

“482 feet,” I say.

“Nice. I’ll take that,” Murphy says about as nonchalantly as possible, talking as though I’d just handed him an ice-cold soda and not as though he’d just accomplished a near-superhuman feat.

Murphy also recorded a single in the game prior and later in yesterday’s contest, his bat picking up right where he left off with his hot second half for Albuquerque. “Yeah, I’m just continuing what I worked on in Triple-A, I’m just happy to see it transferring so far to here.”

He says he is still riding high on that momentum. “I’ve learned to put my body in a better position to grind out at-bats and it seems to be working so far.”

He did get charged for a passed ball in the game, something he wouldn’t let go unnoticed. “That shouldn’t happen, it’s not gonna happen again.”

Whether or not another 480-plus foot home run will happen again also remains to be seen but it is clear that Tom Murphy is not lacking in either brute strength or confidence at this moment in time.