As a part of our Quest for the Asterisk series, we’ll be taking a look at the players who will be most pivotal in taking the Colorado Rockies back to the postseason in 2020.
Every team needs their stars to lead by example, both on the field and statistically. It’s a waste of time to tell you that Nolan Arenado and German Márquez need to be good. That’s obvious.
Starting with the first exhibition game on Tuesday and running through Opening Day on Friday, we’ll highlight those players – The Definitive Five – outside of the core performers whose season will truly determine whether the Rockies will reign again.
No. 3 – Daniel Murphy, 1B
No. 2 – (Thursday, July 23)
No. 1 – (Friday, July 24)
No. 3: Daniel Murphy (1B)
When Colorado looked to improve its offense from the left-side of the plate following the 2018 season, they signed a three-time All-Star, two-time Silver Slugger, a former National League Championship Series MVP, and an owner of a .299 career batting average who had struck out less times (614) than he had touched home plate (644).
With a swing and an approach at the plate that produced the most doubles in all of baseball from 2012-2017, it seemed logical for Murphy’s home run rate to increase at altitude while turning several routine singles into doubles on account of Coors Field’s oversized outfield.
What they got was something much less than expected. And what they lost in the process was something a lot more than anyone could have foreseen.
No matter how well 2020 goes to plan for Murphy, he will be inextricably linked with the greatest second baseman in franchise history, DJ LeMahieu.
Signed by the New York Yankees on a two-year, $24M contract – the same length and value as the Rockies pact with Murphy – LeMahieu had the best season of his career at age-31 in the Bronx.
No longer deemed exclusively a second baseman, LeMahieu played 52 games at third base and 40 at first base. He batted all over the lineup and drove in a career-best 102 runs. In the process, he helped lead the Yanks to their first AL East pennant since 2012 and finished fourth in AL MVP voting.
Both Murphy and LeMahieu finished 2018 with over 800 games played at the keystone corner. While LeMahieu moved around the infield in 2019, Murphy started exclusively at first base, a much more offensively demanding position.
Though it would have been unlikely for anyone to expect LeMahieu to become a superstar under the bright lights of New York City in a lineup surrounded by Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and Gleyber Torres, it was equally improbable for anyone to expect Murphy to have his first season in purple derailed by a fractured finger on his left hand in the only the second game of the season.
“He would never blame anything on that,” Rockies’ hitting coach Dave Magadan said of the avulsion fracture to Murphy’s left index finger. “That’s the type of person he is and the type of player that he is. I’m sure it did affect him. He didn’t miss a lot of time. He probably came back a lot quicker than most guys would have from that injury.”
For better or worse, Murphy doubled-down and rehabilitated for a month, learning how to hit with only four fingers on his top hand. Somehow, given the unfortunate circumstance, he still managed to appear in 132 games and have a higher batting average (.279) than any Rockies’ player not named Arenado, Blackmon, Dahl or Story.
Murphy rounds the bases in Arlington during Colorado’s 5-1 victory over Texas.
The difference for this season will be much more than just a healthy Daniel Murphy. It will be about returning to his approach at the plate and recapturing his days as .303 hitter from 2011-17.
“I don’t think he would ever use it as an excuse, but I’m sure if affected him to some extent. Let’s be honest: he still had a pretty good year for us. Got a lot of big hits for us and served as protection for some big hitters in front of him. I expect him to be a lot better this year. I know it’s going to be a smaller window, but I would expect he’d be a lot better for us and be a force.”
Though he was not himself, he showed flashes of the player that single-handedly lifted the Mets to a four-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs in the 2015 NLCS with his four homer performance that contributed to a .529 batting average and a whopping 1.850 on-base-plus-slugging-percentage.
There was the walk-off single on May 30 against the Arizona Diamondbacks in the middle of an eight-game win streak. A homer against Cincinnati on July 12 to seal a 3-2 victory and stop a six-game skid. And a professional RBI-groundout that gave Colorado the lead in Washington on July 25 to salvage what was a 1-5 road trip.
Altogether, it was three last at-bat wins for Murphy in 2019, tied for most on the team.
According to the 17-year coach and 16-year MLB veteran Magadan, Murphy will be everything that has been advertised for 2020.
“Now, he’s able to get those pitches up into the air. He showed it in the first Spring Training, but now in Spring Training 2.0… He worked his butt off in the offseason to get back to where he was able to get to pitches that were even in off-the-plate which he was able to do for many years in Washington and New York.” Magadan continued, “Now he’s getting those pitches up into the seats. When he’s doing that, he’s really dangerous.”
If Tuesday night’s exhibition game against the Texas Rangers is any indication, Murphy is going to be critical this season. His second-inning blast off Kyle Gibson made the 35-year-old the first player to homer in the newly-christened Globe Life Field.
Murphy has an opportunity in 2020 to balance the scales on his tenure in Colorado. Interestingly enough, it might not even be his final go-round with the club either as his identical two-year, $24M deal as LeMahieu’s wasn’t indistinguishable after all.
With a mutual option for 2021, the Rockies can actually bring back Murphy for an additional $6M. If he lives up to the expectations and then some, his contract could end up being three-years for $30M.
Should Murphy deliver a dropkick to all opposing pitchers during the 60-game sprint, Colorado will get sick of winning and could even bring home some shiny hardware in the process.
