Mar 2, 2015; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves catcher Tanner Murphy (80) pose for photo day at Wide World of Sports. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 2, 2015; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves catcher Tannner Murphy (80) pose for photo day at Wide World of Sports. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
Tanner Murphy finished the season on a tear. Can he be the Atlanta Braves catcher of the future?
Player Profile
The Atlanta Braves selected Tanner Scott Murphy from Missouri high school in the 4th round of the 2013 draft.
He opened his pro career with the Braves’ Gulf Coast League affiliate, playing 32 games and hitting .227/.313/.258 with 0 no home runs but 5 stolen bases. He also posted a 10.62% walk rate and 30.09% strikeout rate.
Murphy moved to advanced rookie Danville in the Appalachian League for the 2014 season. He hit .242/.361/.389 with 5 home runs and 2 stolen bases over 50 games. He also posted a 15.71% walk rate and 19.9% strikeout rate.
2015 saw Murphy in his first full-season league, spending the year in low-A Rome in the South Atlantic League. He flashed elite defense, but the bat certainly was less than stellar as he hit .193/.277/.312 with 7 home runs, a 9.95% walk rate, and a 23.82% strikeout rate.
Murphy opened his season in 2016 in high-A Carolina, and his bat was again struggling. Some midseason adjustments behind the plate and at the plate yielded some big time results.
He simply wasn’t seeing the ball well early at all, and on June 1st, he sat with a slash line of .128/.186/.160 with one home run, a 5.77% walk rate, and an 18.27% strikeout rate.
He began work on a new swing in the second half, and early returns yielded a slash of .210/.349/.387 with 5 home runs in June and July with a 17.69% walk rate and 16.33% strikeout rate.
He continued to work with coaches, and a very different swing in August from the swing he opened the season with allowed him to get to balls much better, making more consistent contact with the ball, using his excellent eye to his advantage.
While just a one-month sample, from August 1st to the end of the season on September 5th with his adjusted swing, Murphy hit .338/.434/.382 with a 12.05% walk rate and 14.46% strikeout rate.v
Overall in the 2016 season, Murphy hit .214/.320/.310 with 6 home runs, a 12.57% walk rate, and a 16.47% strikeout rate.
Murphy is listed at 6’1″ and 215 pounds. He is athletically built with a good frame for catching.
Hitting
Contact (40) – Based solely on what was seen at the end of the season, this grade would be much higher, but it will require seeing Murphy carry over that success going into 2017 to bump him up.
Murphy adjusted his stance from an open stance with his hands moving a bit in early season 2016 to the point where he was standing nearly straight in line with his front and back foot, holding his hands back further.
The change in approach reduced the significant load that has been an issue with Murphy in his past in contact rates, as he has excellent bat speed in the zone, but his angle of his swing and the load coming into the zone both restricted his ability to consistently contact the ball, let alone barrel the ball.
Power (50) – While Murphy is physically strong enough to be a guy that could threaten double digit home runs annually, he has so far struggled to put barrel to ball consistently in his pro career.
With his adjusted swing, that was really the last component that he hadn’t secured yet, though he was getting to all balls better, which, with his natural raw power, will lead to more home runs in general simply due to making more consistent contact.
Eye (55) – I may edit this later to a true 60 grade as Murphy has one of the best strike zone recognition abilities in the entire Braves system.
His pitch recognition is also quite good as well.
Thus far, the biggest thing that has led to a rough strikeout rate has been his long swing path. However, with his adjusted stance providing for a better entrance into the zone, this could easily become a plus tool for Murphy with sub-15% strikeout rates.
Base Running/Fielding
Speed (30) – Murphy was a multi-sport athlete coming out of high school, with video on YouTube of him as a high school quarterback if you dig hard enough.
He looks much different now than in those high school days, adding significant strength and thickness to his legs and lower half to help build himself up for the rigors behind the plate, but that’s also sapped his overall speed.
That all said, he has more than adequate quickness in movement behind the plate.
Defense (60) – This is where Murphy truly shines. By a long ways, Murphy is the best blocker of balls in the system, with a remarkable ability to get down on balls from batter’s box to batter’s box.
That he allowed 10 passed balls in 2016 tells you two things – first, that scorers are often more favorable to the pitcher in the case of a pitch getting to the backstop when the catcher looks like he “almost” had it, not taking into account how much work the catcher had to do just to get to that “almost” position, and second, that the Carolina staff this last season had some pretty significant control issues on the mound.
Murphy has improved dramatically in his game calling, and many I talk with rave about how well he works with pitchers in-game as well.
Quite possibly, he could be the best defensive catcher currently working in the system, and that’s fairly high praise in a system that emphasizes strong defense behind the plate.
Arm (55) – In his excellent interview with Talking Chop, Tanner discussed his throwing issues in 2016. Many got down on Murphy due to his relatively low rate of throwing out runners.
However, Murphy has a very solid arm in raw strength, even plus in grade of pure arm strength, but what I’ve seen is that he often will get his feet in poor position due to his extreme focus on blocking (especially with the Carolina staff in 2016) and his throw accuracy could use some work.
MLB Player Comp
His build got me thinking quickly of one of my favorite catchers to watch work currently in the major leagues due to his incredible ability to work with his pitchers on the mound.
Francisco Cervelli received minimal acclaim coming up a Yankees system that had offensive catchers like Jesus Montero, yet all he did was continue to provide consistent defense and solid contact rates offensively.
As a professional, he’s hit a total of 18 home runs in 1,688 plate appearances, and I do believe Murphy has more power than that, but the .280/.361/.374 line would not be a terribly crazy line, and Cervelli’s 9.8% walk rate and 17.8% strike out rate as a pro is similar as well.
I think the Braves would be overjoyed to have a Cervelli as is, let alone with added power!
Murphy will be an interesting case as far as his assignment out of spring. From people within the Braves I’ve talked with this offseason, the two guys they want to be in a situation to get the primary load of playing time are Murphy and Jonathan Morales.
That would likely put Morales in high-A and Murphy in AA, though the Braves do have a tremendous amount of depth at the position overall, so it will be something to note during spring how guys are playing out.
