Seattle Mariners catcher Tom Murphy spent three years as a star for the University at Buffalo, but never made it to Sahlen Field for a game until Tuesday night. Odd how that works.
"We never played here and I was never able to come to a game," Murphy said prior to Wednesday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays. "So this series is my first time here. Pretty funny."
At 30 years old, Murphy has carved out parts of six seasons in the big leagues. That's the longest career by a UB player since the days of pitcher Joe Hesketh in the 1980s.
Murphy has fond memories of his UB days under coach Ron Torgalski ("I owe him a lot for my career"), but not nearly the kind words for the school itself in the wake of its 2017 decision to drop the baseball program.
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"I wasn't really shocked, to be honest with you, when I heard. I never felt like the university put much stock into the baseball program," Murphy said. "They wouldn't even give us a field on campus, we played on a town field (at the Northtown Center of Amherst) and our scholarship situation was not like the teams we were playing against. The writing was kind of on the wall."
Sidearm right-hander Adam Cimber is 1-2 with a 2.88 earned-run average in 33 games for the Marlins.
Murphy said it was particularly distressing that the baseball program was among those dropped in the wake of the success of UB football and men's and women's basketball in recent years.
"I just don't think there's any excuse for any college to get rid of programs, to be honest with you," he said. "We all know that they make their money and we all know that there is opportunity for guys to go there and play and hopefully further improve their career like I did. And then to see that kind of taken away from guys, it's a shame."
Murphy played three years at UB and was MAC Player of the Year in 2011 after batting .384 with 10 homers and 44 RBIs in 52 games. He was a third-round pick by the Colorado Rockies out of UB in 2012 and was in Triple-A with Albuquerque by 2015 and made his MLB debut that season.
From 2015-2018, he got used to the Denver-Albuquerque shuttle, putting up numbers in Triple-A that he couldn't approach in the big leagues. His 2016 season at Albuquerque was his best, with a .327 average with 19 home runs and 59 RBIs. By spring training in 2019, the Rockies designated him for assignment – and so did Texas after a brief pickup.
But he then stuck with Seattle, hitting .273-18-40 in 75 games and setting himself up to be the No. 1 catcher in 2020. He missed all of last year due to a freak set of foot fractures in spring training and has been battling to get his average over .200 this season. He had two hits here Tuesday and entered Wednesday's game at .189-6-15 while serving as the DH. He went 0 for 4 in the game although he hit a couple balls hard that were turned into outs.
"It was more difficult than I estimated it was going to be for sure," Murphy said of the comeback from injury. "Obviously, my numbers kind of go along with that. But at same time, missing a year of Major League Baseball, you miss out on a lot of things, a lot of learning experiences. Hopefully, that's kind of behind me now. And I'll move forward."
Seattle Mariners catcher Tom Murphy shares a light moment with plate umpire Dan Bellino during Tuesday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Sahlen Field.
Murphy was batting just .138 on May 26, but entered Wednesday at .262 since. Mariners manager Scott Servais, a longtime big-league catcher, said he's been happy to see Murphy shake off his early-season doldrums.
"Murph has done a really good job for us ... He's picked it up quite a bit," Servais said. When you look at the overall numbers, everybody's tied to the batting average, versus a lot of good at bats. He's been very productive against left- handed pitching and he does a heck of a job with our very young pitching staff."
"My approach has been just making sure that I kind of keep each day as its own separate day," Murphy said. "At the end of the season, I'll be able to look up and see where I'm at. Just maintain that mentality throughout.
"Earlier in my career, it would have been a little bit harder to separate offense from defense, but I understand how much value is behind the plate as well. ... I know I'm going to be able to help my team win, regardless of how I'm hitting, because the defensive part is much more effort-based."
My on-field postgame interview with Tom Murphy after the @Mariners’ extra-inning victory tonight in Buffalo. @MLBNetwork @YouTube @UBAthletics @710ESPNSeattle pic.twitter.com/xd0du4m50E
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) July 1, 2021
Murphy grew up about three hours from Buffalo in West Monroe, north of Syracuse on the shores of Oneida Lake. He said living on the outskirts of Seattle with his wife and two children, ages 10 and 3, reminds him of being in the Adirondacks.
"Seattle has meant the world to me. It truly has," he said. "I give them so much thanks and am so grateful they took a chance on me in 2019. They've given me nothing but opportunities since I've been here."
Murphy went viral last month with a wide-eyed wrestling pose to greet teammates after his walkoff sacrifice fly in the 10th inning beat Oakland. He wasn't letting anyone rip his shirt off. Not expected to do much in the AL West, Seattle improve to 42-39 with Wednesday's 9-7, 10-inning victory here.
"One thing that this organization's allowed me to do more than anything is just kind of like be myself and then treat the game in a way that is much more fun than it is serious," Murphy said. "We have been having fun. We had a four-game sweep of the Rays that shows we play good baseball. We really enjoy coming to play every day."
Is this the best #walkoff reaction of the season? 😭 pic.twitter.com/6PIFYJa4T9
— MLB (@MLB) June 1, 2021
