Daniel Murphy (baseball)

Daniel Murphy

Murphy with the New York Mets
New York Mets – No. 28
Second baseman
Born: April 1, 1985
Jacksonville, Florida
Bats: Left Throws: Right
MLB debut
August 2, 2008 for the New York Mets
Career statistics
(through April 18, 2015)
Batting average .288
Home runs 49
Runs batted in 333
Teams
Career highlights and awards

Daniel Thomas Murphy (born April 1, 1985)[1] is an American professional baseball player. A right-handed fielder and left-handed hitter, he currently plays second base for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball. He previously played Left field and occasionally plays First Base and Third base. In 2014 Murphy was selected to his first All-Star game.

Baseball career

Daniel Murphy was born in Jacksonville, Florida.[1] He attended Jacksonville University, where he played college baseball for the Dolphins under head coach Terry Alexander. In 2006, he was named the A-Sun Baseball Player of the Year. The Mets selected Murphy out of Jacksonville in the 13th round (394th overall) of the 2006 Major League Baseball Draft.[1] He spent the entire 2007 season with the High-A St. Lucie Mets of the Florida State League.[2] During home games, Murphy's walk up music includes "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" by Dropkick Murphys, "What I've Done" by Linkin Park, and "The Drop (Intro)" by Lecrae. Murphy is known as being a hard worker, as Mets manager Terry Collins has noted on many occasions.[3] Murphy played summer ball for the Luray Warnglers of the Valley Baseball League after his freshman, and sophmore seasons at Jacksonville University. In 2005 Murphy was named the league's Most Valuable Player.

2008

Murphy began the season with the Double-A Binghamton Mets.[2] On August 2, a day after being promoted to the Triple-A New Orleans Zephyrs, the Mets left-handed reserve outfielder Marlon Anderson was placed on the disabled list, so Murphy was called up to the majors.[4] In his first major league at bat, against three-time All-Star Roy Oswalt, Murphy hit a single. Later in the same game, he made a difficult catch against the left field wall, throwing out Hunter Pence at second base for a double play to end the inning.[5] As of August 9, 2008, Murphy was only the 5th Mets rookie to record 10 hits in his first 20 at-bats. Murphy hit his first home run in the bottom of the 6th inning against the Florida Marlins at Shea Stadium on August 9.

According to Major League Baseball rules, players are no longer considered a rookie if they have had more than 130 at-bats in a single season.[6] Murphy had 131 at-bats for the Mets during the 2008 season, thus making 2008 his rookie season by a single at-bat. He finished the season batting .313, with 2 home runs and 17 RBI.

2009

Although he is a natural third baseman, Murphy began to play left field in 2008, and continued in 2009, due to the presence of David Wright on the Mets.[4] Murphy had a hard time transitioning to left field. In May, Carlos Delgado underwent hip surgery and Murphy moved to first base.[7] Murphy led the Mets in home runs, with 12. It is tied with 1977 for the fewest home runs to lead a Mets team in a single season in franchise history.[8]

2010

On March 30, 2010, Murphy hurt his knee in a spring training game against the St.Louis Cardinals in a rundown between third base and home plate.[9] On June 2, while playing second base for the Buffalo Bisons, the Mets' Triple-A affiliate, he suffered a "high-grade" MCL tear while trying to turn a double play. Although surgery was not needed, he was expected to miss 4–6 months.[10]

2011

Murphy suffered a season-ending injury to his MCL on August 7, 2011 after a collision with the Atlanta Braves' José Constanza.[11] At the time of his season ending injury, Murphy had the 3rd highest batting average in the National League. However, Murphy did not have enough at-bats to qualify as a league leader at the end of the 2011 season.

2012

Murphy started off the 2012 season as the Mets' starting second baseman after recovering from his MCL injury from 2011. On April 9, he hit a walk-off single against the Nationals to give the Mets a 4–3 victory and their first 4–0 start since 2007. After going 352 at-bats since his last home run on July 16, 2011, Murphy hit two against the Cubs on June 27.[12] Murphy was named as the Mets nominee for the 2012 MLBPAA Heart & Hustle Award which was ultimately won by Mike Trout of the Angels.[13]

2013

Murphy had a strained muscle on his right side during spring training. He returned to training on February 20, said he didn’t have a timetable for his return to regular workouts.[14] For the period ending September 1, Murphy was named the National League Player of the Week after accumulating five doubles, seven runs and thirteen hits.[15] Murphy had a strong 2013, establishing himself as one of the best offensive 2nd baseman in the league. Murphy played in 161 games and batted .286. Murphy finished 2nd in the National League with 188 hits. Murphy also contributed 13 home runs and 78 RBIs. Murphy led the National League in stolen base success rate, swiping 23/26 bases, an 88.4 percent success rate. Following the season, he was again nominated for the MLBPAA Heart & Hustle Award, this time losing out to Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia.[13]

2014

Murphy was named to his first Major League Baseball All-Star Game in 2014 as the backup to starter Chase Utley.[16] His roster position was announced on July 6, at which time he had 105 hits (second in the National League) and a .295 batting average.

Personal life

Murphy wed his longtime girlfriend Victoria "Tori" Ahern on December 1, 2012 in Florida.[17] Murphy's wife Victoria gave birth to a son, Noah, on March 31, 2014.[18]

When Daniel Murphy took a three-day leave of absence from the team to attend the birth of his child, something guaranteed by the MLB collective bargaining agreement, he received heavy criticism from two on-air radio commentators (see here) for doing so. While those commentators were roundly criticized themselves for their comments - including a statement by Mets manager Terry Collins where he told them to "look in the mirror" - Murphy himself only said he was aware of the comments.[19][20]

On June 9, 2014, Murphy was invited to speak at the Working Families Summit at the White House.[16][21]

In March of 2015, Major League Ambassador for Inclusion Billy Bean visited the Mets spring training clubhouse. Murphy made comments referred to as controversial by a number of columnists,[22][23] when he remarked on Bean, who is gay, "I do disagree with the fact that Billy is a homosexual. That doesn’t mean I can’t still invest in him and get to know him." and "you can still accept them but I do disagree with the lifestyle, 100%."[24] The next day Bean responded in an article on MLB.com, "I appreciate that Daniel spoke his truth. I really do. I was visiting his team, and a reporter asked his opinion about me. He was brave to share his feelings, and it made me want to work harder and be a better example that someday might allow him to view things from my perspective, if only for just a moment."[25] Murphy announced the same day he would no longer talk to the media about his religious beliefs, and "stick to baseball".[26]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "player profile". Mlb.com. Major League Baseball Advanced Media. Retrieved August 3, 2008.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "player profile". MiLB.com. Retrieved August 3, 2008.
  3. ↑ http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140707&content_id=83518540&notebook_id=83533110&vkey=notebook_nym&c_id=nym
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 DiComo, Anthony (August 3, 2008). "Murphy called up; Anderson to DL; Mets prospect makes debut in left field against Oswalt". MLB.com. Retrieved August 3, 2008.
  5. ↑ Cothran, Jeremy (August 3, 2008). "Murphy's Law applies to NY Mets bullpen in 5–4 loss to Astros". The Star-Ledger. Retrieved August 3, 2008.
  6. ↑ "Rules, Regulations and Statistics". Major League Baseball.
  7. ↑ DiComo, Anthony (May 20, 2009). "Murphy Makes Debut at First for Mets; Outfielder Getting Chance to Fill Void left by Injured Delgado". MLB.com. Retrieved May 31, 2009.
  8. ↑ Prince, Greg (June 6, 2010). "Move Over Daniel (Here Comes David)". Faith and Fear in Flushing. Retrieved February 20, 2015.
  9. ↑ Rubin, Adam (March 31, 2010). "Mets' Murphy has right knee sprain". ESPN. Retrieved April 2, 2010.
  10. ↑ McCullough, Andy (June 3, 2010). "Mets infielder Daniel Murphy suffers 'high-grade' MCL tear". The Star-Ledger - NJ.com. Retrieved June 3, 2009.
  11. ↑ Taube, Aaron (8 August 2011). "Reyes, Murphy both land on disabled list". MLB.com. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  12. ↑ "Drought over: Murphy goes deep, then does it again". Mets.com. Retrieved 28 June 2012.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Heart & Hustle Award". BaseballAlumni.com. MLBPAA. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
  14. ↑ "Mets’ Daniel Murphy Has Strained Muscle On Right Side; Is Day To Day". CBS News New York. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  15. ↑ "Daniel Murphy of the New York Mets named National League Player of the Week". Major League Baseball. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Kennedy, Kostya (July 15, 2014). "Wild year has taken Daniel Murphy from White House to All-Star Game". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  17. ↑ "Daniel Murphy and wife Tori Ahern". FabWags. February 2014. Retrieved March 2014.
  18. ↑ "Parnell on DL; Mets call up Farnsworth, Flores". Associated Press. ESPN.com. April 2, 2014. Retrieved April 2, 2014. He and his wife, Victoria, welcomed a baby boy named Noah on Monday.
  19. ↑ "Daniel Murphy Takes Criticism Over Paternity Leave In Stride". CBS New York. April 3, 2014. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  20. ↑ Rubin, Adam (April 4, 2014). "Daniel Murphy: Right to take leave". ESPN.com. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  21. ↑ Rohan, Tim (June 9, 2014). "Mets’ Murphy Discusses Fatherhood at White House Meeting". The New York Times. Retrieved July 20, 2014.
  22. ↑ Craig, Mark (March 4, 2015) "Billy Bean responds to Daniel Murphy's comments on homosexuality", Newsday.
  23. ↑ Ackert, Kristie (March 4, 2015)Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy is done discussing his beliefs about homosexuality, New York Daily News.
  24. ↑ Ackert, Kristie (March 3, 2015) "Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy says he disagrees with gay lifestyle as Billy Bean, MLB’s inclusion ambassador, visits club" New York Daily News.
  25. ↑ Axisa, Mike (March 4, 2015) "Billy Bean responds to Daniel Murphy: 'I appreciate Daniel spoke his truth'", CBSSports.com.
  26. ↑ Rubin, Adam (March 4, 2015) "Murphy now to talk baseball only", ESPN.com.

External links

Preceded by
Anderson Hernandez		 Mets Organizational Player of the Year (with Nick Evans)
2009 		Succeeded by
Ike Davis