As Daniel Murphy prepares for his presser as the Nats top free agent signed this year, we could look back at this signing as a key to the Nats 2016 success and beyond if all goes according to plan.
Rizzo got Murphy on a team friendly deal that is backloaded to create more room just in case Rizzo makes that 1 big signing!
No photoshops needed anymore to get Murphy pictured in a Nats jersey:
Murph is ringing in the first few days of the New Year, in his new digs. #WelcomeMurph pic.twitter.com/WFAI1vxOw1
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) January 7, 2016
From the Nationals, “Murphy is a career .288 hitter who has posted a .331 on-base percentage and a .424 slugging percentage over 903 MLB games. During a 2015 season in which he hit .281/.322/.449, Murphy clubbed 38 doubles, two triples and 14 home runs, while driving in 73 for the Mets.”
“In the 2015 postseason Murphy emerged as one of the game’s most dangerous hitters, propelling the Mets to the World Series with a .421 combined batting average in the National League Division Series (.333) and National League Championship Series (.529), along with seven home runs and 11 RBI. The NLCS MVP, Murphy homered in every game of the Mets’ sweep over the Chicago Cubs – four home runs in 18 plate appearances – and singlehandedly drove in 29 percent of New York’s total runs in the series.”
If you want a middle infielder with offense, Daniel Murphy is your player, and if you let him just hit against righthanded pitching, the results are even better! Murphy also hit considerably better on the road vs CitiField (.736 vs .803 OPS). You start adding up the positive factors plus how the Nats seemed to own him in 2015 (below Mendoza) and he won’t face the Nats anymore, his numbers could absolutely increase. He also has a 56 game history at Nats Park where his slash is .294/.330/.421/.751 so previous seasons at Nats Park were much better.
When the Mets added hitting coach Kevin Long, they shortened Murphy’s swing to the ball and in attack mode when the ball is over the center of the plate. “Get him pitches he could be more dangerous on over the middle of the plate”. He got his K/9 down to the lowest in the Majors in a league where strikeouts have been rising. The tweaks by Long increased Murphy’s power and his batting average in the 2nd half of 2015 as his Slugging % went from .405 to .490 and that doesn’t count that en fuego post-season where he bested that other New Yorker Babe Ruth with a Ruthian 6 HRs in 6 straight postseason games.
Enjoy this career slash line of how Murphy hits with Runners In Scoring Position (RISP):
From Baseball Reference:
Yes, .313 batting average with that big .374.
Now look at batting order for his career and you see that #2 and #4 look very enticing.
Here’s the positions that Murphy has played in his career:
Daniel Murphy’s presser starts in a few minutes.
Daniel Murphy said, “Negotiations were swift. My wife and I discussed leading into the off-season clubs that fit and Washington was at the top of the list. The foundation that has been laid here was good. Both sides felt it was a good fit and the right fit for both sides.”
“The Nats starting rotation is deep and it’s scary”.
Rizzo said that Murphy fit well with the lefty bat and negotiation with Seth Levinson went well and quick.
Daniel Murphy described his negotiations with the #Nats as short, sweet and awesome. pic.twitter.com/ebOg1zpWbG
— Chris Johnson (@ceejjohnson18) January 7, 2016
