Murphy's Catching Hand Pays the Price for Athletics Montas' 100-mph Fastball Claim

While baseball was shut down, Frankie Montas kept throwing and said he was hitting triple digits. He thew to Oakland Athletics' catcher Sean Murphy Saturday, and Murphy said his hand was sore after Montas was done throwing fastballs. The A's will be counting on Murphy in 2020, and Liam Hendriks believes the rookie is up to the task.

During the time baseball was locked down during the pandemic, A’s starting pitcher Frankie Montas went to social media a time or two to check in and let everybody know he was hitting triple digits with his fastball during his workouts.

He’s got a believer in Sean Murphy.

The Oakland rookie catcher caught Montas and fellow starter Sean Manaea during the A’s first workout day Saturday. And he paid the price for it.

“My hand’s pretty sore right now,” Murphy said after the workout. “That’s Frankie.”

The A’s like the way their pitching staff matches up with any team in the American League, and it will be Murphy, who played in just 20 games (.245/.333/.566 with four homers) last season to call the bulk of the pitches, although Austin Allen, another rookie, will catch his share of games.

And Murphy has a believer in Liam Hendriks.

“I remember throwing a bullpen to Sean,” Hendriks said after Saturday’s workout. “And after I was through, he came and was like okay, how do you like me to set up? And that’s a big thing for me as somewhat of a veteran player. I’m coming in and he’s asking me those questions, because there’s a certain place I like to have him sitting when I throw a slider or curveballs.

“For him to be able to kind of recognize that and do it for the 15 pitchers that we’re going to have on the roster this year, that’s going to be a big difference.”

As a catcher, it will be up to Murphy to have some good luck as Major League Baseball gets going in the age of coronavirus. The idea is to be masked and to keep six feet distance, and Murphy won’t be able to do either of those things.

He said wearing a mask while he’s got a catcher’s helmet on is a non-starter. And batters will be right next to him and umpires will be right behind him. For all of that, Murphy says he wasn’t about to take a pass on playing in 2020.

“I wanted to play from the beginning,” Murphy said. “I didn’t have any other thoughts about it. I wanted to play.

“As long as we can get something that would guarantee safety for the people and we could do our best. Some of the protocols are going to go a long way. I’m feeling good about everybody.”

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

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