Angels Promote Reliever Luke Murphy After Dominant 0.71 ERA in Double-A

It's time to see what the kids can do. The Angels call up shutdown reliever Luke Murphy and his 0.71 Double-A ERA. Get the stats and bullpen outlook here.

Mar 27, 2025; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak looks on during opening day ceremonies before the game between the Cardinals and the Minnesota Twins at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Out with the old, in with the new. A full scale Angels rebuild may be on the horizon under new Angels GM John Mozeliak. A day after cutting Alek Manoah and trading reliever Chase Silseth to the Rangers, the Angels announced they are calling up Luke Murphy who has been dominant in AA this season.

It is time to let the kids see what they can do. Luke Murphy should be the start of a roster turnover as Mozeliak tries to assess the talent in the organization and add talent from outside of it. The trade deadline promises to bring in more prospects but for now let's look at Luke Murphy.

Luke Murphy has a dominant 0.71 ERA in AA.

Murphy has appeared in 34 games for the Rocket City Trash Pandas and pitched 38 innings. In that time he has allowed a measly 7% walk rate which is a huge improvement over his previous control issues. By locating his pitches in the strike zone he has pushed his K rate to 32%.

Keeping batters from reaching base safely does wonders for limiting runs, and Murphy's 0.71 ERA is proof of that. To calculate that ERA for you, Murphy has allowed only 3 earned runs in his 38 innings.

The tall right hander's elite run prevention has made him the Trash Pandas closer and he has converted 18 of 20 save opportunities.

This breakout performance follows a brutal 2025 campaign that led to Murphy being both unprotected and unclaimed in the Rule V draft. Fortunately for both him and the Angels, he is pitching up to expectations now and will make this MLB debut this weekend against Milwaukee.

Here's a pair of Luke Murphy strikeouts from tonight in the pouring rain. Murphy has been untouchable.

He's 9-for-9 in save opportunities, has a 0.56 ERA in 15 games, 20 strikeouts, 5 walks in 17.0 innings. No earned runs allowed in 11 straight games.

It might be time...↗️ pic.twitter.com/TbMpn9Lt8R

— Chris Harris (@CHarris731) May 30, 2026

Luke Murphy's fastball and slider are his calling cards.

Drafted in the fourth round of Perry Minasian's all pitcher draft in 2021, Murphy was projected to be a quick riser to Major League Baseball. The 6 foot 5 fireballer dominated the SEC and was the closer for Vanderbilt. That team was stacked and probably had the best pitching staff in the country.

Murphy's fastball is rated a plus pitch.

Like most relievers, Murphy's repertoire features a highly rated fastball. His heater sits 94-97 miles per hour but can touch 99 at times. What really makes the pitch effective his Murphy's release. His tall frame and long arms allow him to throw the fastball from a three quarters slot that generates a lot of downhill plane. The fastball comes out of his hand looking like it will cross the plate at the thighs but drops down below the knees and generates a lot of whiffs.

His slider gets a lot of whiffs.

Fastball/slider is a very common combination for relievers and Murphy is no different. Playing off the high velocity fastball is his 83-87 mile per hour slider that could almost resemble a sweeper with more vertical drop. When he is able to keep it below the strike zone (as he has this year) it gets a lot of swings over the top.

Murphy's command has improved a ton this season.

Angels fans wondering why Murphy was not called up earlier need to look at his previous career. Walks haunted Murphy and a lack of command led to far too many pitches landing in the center of the strike zone and getting hit hard. Murphy's command improved greatly this season and is now projected to be up to MLB standards.

Murphy continues a youth movement in the bullpen.

With Kirby Yates and Brent Suter destined to leave the club either as trade chips or free agents, Murphy joins fellow youngster Samy Natera Jr. in the Angls bullpen. Down on the farm other high octane arms like Joel Hurtado and Chris Cortez are arms who could also debut with the Angels in short order.

John Mozeliak is correct in saying things need to change in Anaheim. The first step is getting new talent on the field.