One of my favorite series to do on this blog is Get To Know a Prospect, and now that the season has started, we should start to look back at some of the Prospects that were introduced earlier. Dan Murphy was introduced on this blog in March 3rd. I really never heard of him before this year. Randolph had him play a few springs games, and I wanted to see what he was all about, what were his skills, how has been doing.
These were his MILB numbers, not including this season:
160 G, 582 AB, 13 HR, 35 2B, 84 RBI, .275 BA, .334 OBP
Spring Training this year was a different story:
17 AB, 3 H, 3 R, 2B, RBI, .176 BA, .222 OBP
This season so far has been a completely different story for Murphy. He has posted in the las 18 G and 69 AB, 15 R, 29 H, 6 2B, 3B, HR, 15 RBI, .420 BA, and a .468 OBP.
If you take those numbers and extrapolate them out over 582 AB, his minor league career before this year you get a slight drop in homer runs, down to 8.4, a huge boost in 2B, up to 50.6 and a dramatic increase in RBI, rising to 126.5.
Is this for real? Well he's off to a hot start, and history says that he will not be batting .420 all season, but if he finishes off above the .310 mark, then the Mets brass will have to seriously consider moving him to AAA next year, assuming that Tatis does not become a roadblock there. He could also become trade bait, since 3B is occupied here for some time in the Majors.
The story of Murphy will ultimately come down how he plays the rest of the season and if he develops into a full fledge prospect.
