By Jeremiah Sullivan
Want to guess who currently has the highest batting average among his New York Mets teammates? Better yet, how about who has a higher slugging percentage than David Wright, Carlos Delgado or Fernando Tatis? If you haven’t been paying attention to life after the July 31st trade deadline, than you might have missed the emergence of a diamond in the rough. Daniel Murphy, the Mets’ newest call-up is on fire. Who said the Mets’ farm system was left for dead after the Santana deal went down this past winter?
On Aug. 2nd, Mets brass made the decision to pluck the left-handed hitting outfielder from his Minor League roots and thrust him into the New York limelight. The move was namely done because manager Jerry Manuel grew tired of relying on Marlon Anderson, who was playing injured and out of position in left field. Anderson headed to the DL after the move was made.
And where was Murphy before all this? Believe it or not, he had just completed his one and only game at the Triple-A level before he got the call to the Show. After finding his way through the Mets farm system, it was in Binghamton where Murphy switched from his natural third base position to give second base a try. Let’s face it, David Wright isn’t going any where. Kudos to Murphy for making the best of the situation.
Despite the work he put in at his new spot, the 23-year-old prospect has seen time solely in a platoon role along current and former teammate Nick Evans. This says a lot for a guy like Murphy, considering the Mets’ most prized prospect, F-Mart, is still toiling in the Minors awaiting his shot. Heck, Martinez was invited to Spring Training with the big club this summer. Evans and Murphy were still on the learning curve in the Minors.
Murphy joined the team against Houston. Prior to that, he had a stat line that looked a lot like this: .308 average with 13 home runs in 95 games played. The Mets’ prized prospect in Fernando Martinez? Well, he was stuck idle hitting at the .277 mark with only seven homers in 74 games played. The fact of the matter is, numbers don’t lie. Team officials definitely made the right move in giving Murphy his shot.
Since joining the team, his performance has been nothing short of fantastic. Disciplined at the plate, Murphy has posted a .419 batting average with two homers, two doubles, a triple and nine runs scored. He’s even knocked in nine runs on his own. Oh, and let’s not forget in 43 at-bats, he’s only struck out six times. That’ll leave his OBP % right at .510---impressive. And the slugging percentage rests quite comfortably at .651 on the still young Major League campaign.
So where is the ceiling for a player like Murphy? Well, let’s take that question piece by piece. He’s a natural third baseman, having played the spot for at least 15+ years. In the Minors, he stopped to learn a new position in second base, but at the Major League level it’s been all outfield for the kid. To be the 12th pick in the 2006 Draft, Murphy certainly had to have some skills at third---in the Minors he had a career .919 fielding % in 196 games played. Overall, he’s only played 17 games at second base in his career.
The Mets have Damion Easley, Argenis Reyes, and an oft-injured Luis Castillo currently manning the second base slot. Could they one day use Murphy in the same way? It seems with only 17 games under his belt at the position it’s just too early to tell. So the outfield is where he will remain for now, under the guidance of Carlos Beltran who seems more and more like a teacher than a student of the game with such young corner outfielders alongside of him. But Murphy will learn…they all do.
For all the Shane Spencers, there are Daniel Murphys. However, which player the 23-year-old will become is yet to be seen. Not even the Mets GM Omar Minaya has a crystal ball that could see that far into the future. Though, for all the criticism he receives on a daily basis, for all the moves that haven’t helped much. This one is paying off great dividends.
Perhaps the real kicker in all of this is that there is a strong belief Nick Evans is actually the better of the two, with more pop in his bat expected to come. At the moment, he’s sporting a .277 average with 21 hits and five RBI in 76 at-bats. Of those 76, he as struck out 18 times and is still in the hunt for his first Major League longball. Could you imagine if both players really blossomed and turned up the heat down this division race stretch? Combined, both are hitting .300 from the LF spot to date.
That could very easily spell bye-bye Phils in 2008…and adios to the Mets’ abysmal nightmares of 2007.
And that’s my two sense.
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