Sean Murphy Dishes on What Makes Him Great Behind the Dish
Recently, the Atlanta Braves made another Behind the Braves video on their YouTube channel where they had a one-on-one discussion with Atlanta's starting catcher, Sean Murphy. Murphy, a 2021 Gold Glove winner, has been known as one of the best defensive catchers in the MLB for a few years now, dating back to when he played for the Oakland A's.
If there was one question you could ask one of the best players at their respective position in all of baseball, you would likely ask them what their "secret sauce" is. If you have seen Space Jam, you know what I am talking about. So, Murphy was asked what makes a catcher really good at his job:
"I think what makes a great catcher is, me personally, I think there are a lotta things that probably don't go unnoticed by fans you know. What some catchers do at some points that can flip the script of a game as far as taking the right mound visit, calling a good pitch here to get the guy right. There's a lotta little things that good catchers do that don't go down in the stat sheet. We have to be different things to different people and behave differently for different guys to try and get the most out of them. It's not one size fits all. You can try and do it with stats and there are all sorts of metrics that grade out catching and it's good to be good at those things, but there's another layer that goes underneath and I think that's more important." - Murphy
Murphy got off to an incredible start last season until the All-Star break hit, putting up a .306/.400/.599 slashline with 17 homers. The notoriously brutal Atlanta summer, combined with lingering effects from a mild hamstring injury, saw Murphy falter down the stretch. Hopefully, he can keep up his production for the full season in 2024.
