BSN Exclusive: How Tom Murphy is making his defense more like his offense

DENVER – There has never been a question—at least for those who have been paying attention—about the offensive skills of Colorado Rockies catcher Tom Murphy.

Equipped with prodigious power and a smooth-yet-violent right-handed swing, he has been a force at the plate throughout each step of his minor league career and even in shorts stints at MLB. Famously, in 2015, despite only playing a month that, at the time, constituted his entire big league career, he smashed the third longest home run of anyone in the Majors.

In 48 plate appearances this season, Murphy is slashing .319/.333/.447 and is still looking for his first homer but has also shown an ability to deliver in key pinch-hit at-bats, most recently in Monday’s win over the San Francisco Giants.

So, why in the time since then has Murphy been unable to stick at the most elite level in the land? Some of it is bad luck arising out of ill-timed injuries. Not that there is ever a great time to get hurt. Some of it is a short-sample-size regression in his offense after returning from his injuries. But mostly, coaches in the organization tell BSN Denver, it has been his need to improve behind the plate.

The Rockies have rebuilt their identity in the last half-decade as a run-prevention-first team. With a catcher’s ability (or potentially misfortune) to impact the game on every single pitch that is thrown, it is an absolute must that whoever dons the tools of ignorance for Colorado needs to be a kind of suit of armor for his pitching staff.

With as young and inexperienced, yet talented, as the Rockies rotation is, they’ve turned to veteran Chris Iannetta and defensive-specialist Tony Wolters for most of the season.

But the work Murphy has put in has led to enough improvement that the club simply could no longer allow his potentially elite bat to languish in Triple-A. And the more he shows he can be an asset behind the dish, the more opportunities he will get to swing the bat while standing at it.

Murphy is well aware of this dynamic and has put in the time. Manager Bud Black tells us there have been “noticeable improvements” that have already shown up in the 14 games he has played in 2018.

The young catcher is giving all the credit to his coaches, and one in particular.

“Anything that comes with catching, Mark Strittmatter has just been my main man,” Murphy said. “No matter what time of the year it is, he’s always sending me video. ‘Hey, see what this guy does. Hey, I think you can do this better.’ (Mike Redmond) is right there with you on that stuff. Stritty has kind of developed me single-handedly throughout my minor league process, for sure. Those guys have catching backgrounds, but Stritty does a great job with every single one of our catchers.”

I asked if there was any one player that Murphy gravitated toward but he is clearly determined to carve his own path.

“I’m combining things, for sure,” he explained. “Obviously, there’s no perfect player out there, but you can take the best of what the best do and mold them into your game and hopefully become better.”

So far, he and his manager can feel the results. Though, when I asked him about a game where he made some pivotal blocks on balls in the dirt, he pointed out the one he missed later in the game.

“That can’t happen,” he said with stern self-awareness.

But the next day, he got seven opportunities in just the first few innings with German Marquez unable to keep his breaking stuff in the zone. Murphy ate up each and every one of them.

“It was much better, for sure,” he said afterward. “I’ve just committed to making sure that everything I see down, I’m getting dirty on and making sure the ball stays in front of me. You have to be a brick wall back there.”  

And brick walls aren’t built overnight.

The uniqueness of the Rockies roster (and the versatility of Ian Desmond) have led to a situation where the team is carrying three catchers. A big part of that has also been that, after seeing what they have so far from Tom Murphy, has made it difficult to take him off the 25-man roster.

As such, he will get his opportunity to keep laying the mortar and setting the bricks at the big league level.

And, if it turns out that the work that Redmond, Strittmatter, and Murphy himself have put it brings his glovework anywhere close to the level of his bat, the Colorado Rockies have themselves something special.