Murphy went 2-for-3 with a walk, a double and an RBI in Friday's Grapefruit League game against the Red Sox.
The catcher hasn't gone yard yet this spring -- in fact, Friday's double was his second extra-base hit -- but Murphy should supply plenty of pop once the games start to count. The 28-year-old set new career highs with 18 home runs, 37 doubles and 66 RBI in 2022 with Oakland, and his home ballpark and lineup support both got major upgrades over the winter. Even if his workload gets scaled back as expected from last year's 611 plate appearances, Murphy might still improve on his fantasy numbers.
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Braves' Sean Murphy: Looking for first spring homer
Rotowire
Murphy went 1-for-3 with a walk in Friday's Grapefruit League game against the Red Sox.
The 28-year-old hasn't made much of an impact at the plate this spring, going 4-for-17 in seven games with only one extra-base hit, a double, but Murphy is locked into the starting role at catcher for Atlanta. He slugged a career-high 18 home runs and 66 RBI in 148 games last season for the A's, and while he may not see quite that workload in 2023 with a capable backup in Travis d'Arnaud behind him, the better lineup context could still lead Murphy to top last year's production.
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Braves' Sean Murphy: Inks extension with Atlanta
Rotowire
Murphy agreed to a six-year, $73 million extension with Atlanta on Tuesday, which includes a $15 million club option for 2029.
The contract buys out three years of arbitration eligibility and could keep Murphy in Atlanta until the 2030 campaign, barring a trade. The 28-year-old was acquired from Oakland in mid-December after he posted a .250/.332/.426 slash line with 18 home runs and 66 RBI for the Athletics last season, and he also won a Gold Glove in 2021.
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Braves' Sean Murphy: Traded to Atlanta
Rotowire
Atlanta acquired Murphy from the Athletics on Monday, Jeff Passan of ESPN.com reports.
Oakland's return for the catcher isn't yet clear. Murphy slashed .250/.332/.426 with 18 home runs and 66 RBI last season and, with exceptional abilities behind the plate, brings massive value entering his age-28 season. Unless Atlanta, which sent William Contreras to Milwaukee in the trade, also gets rid of Travis d'Arnaud, Murphy and d'Arnaud figure to share time behind the plate in 2023, with the latter seeing more action at designated hitter.
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Athletics' Sean Murphy: Racks up three hits
Rotowire
Murphy went 3-for-5 in Tuesday's 2-1 extra-inning win over the Angels.
All three of Murphy's hits were singles. He missed one game with an illness and has since gone 4-for-10 across two contests since his return. The catcher has enjoyed a career year in almost all aspects, batting .251 with 18 home runs, 66 RBI, 67 runs scored, 37 doubles, two triples and a stolen base in 147 games. Only his .333 on-base percentage and .429 slugging percentage have fallen short of being career-best marks, as he logged better ratios in smaller samples in 2019 and 2020.
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Athletics' Sean Murphy: Returns to lineup Monday
Rotowire
Murphy (illness) is starting Monday against the Angels.
Murphy sat out Sunday's series finale against the Mariners due to an illness, but he'll serve as the designated hitter and bat third a day later. Over his last four games, he's gone 0-for-11 with two walks and four strikeouts.
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Athletics' Sean Murphy: Held out of Sunday's lineup
Rotowire
Murphy (illness) is not in the lineup for Sunday's game against the Mariners.
The 27-year-old departed Saturday's contest with an illness and will be sidelined for at least one game. Shea Langeliers will start behind the plate Sunday in Murphy's absence.
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Athletics' Sean Murphy: Departs with illness
Rotowire
Murphy was removed from Saturday's game against the Mariners due to an illness, Martin Gallegos of MLB.com reports.
Murphy started behind the dish Saturday and went 0-for-1 with a walk and a strikeout to begin the game. He should tentatively be considered day-to-day ahead of Sunday's series finale in Seattle.
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Athletics' Sean Murphy: Not starting Friday
Rotowire
Murphy isn't in the lineup for Friday's matchup in Seattle.
After failing to record a hit in 10 tries during Oakland's last series against the Angels, Murphy will sit down to begin Friday's game against the Mariners. Shea Langeliers will take over behind the dish for Murphy, moving Jordan Diaz into the designated hitter role and opening up second base for Jonah Bride to start, batting eighth.
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Athletics' Sean Murphy: Extra-base hit barrage continues
Rotowire
Murphy went 2-for-4 with a double, a triple and a run in a loss to the Astros on Thursday.
If it seems like all Murphy does is pile up extra-base knocks, it's because that qualifies as only a modest embellishment. The slugging backstop has been putting the screws to the ball all season, with Thursday's production pushing him up to 53 total extra-base hits -- 33 doubles, two triples and 18 home runs. Murphy also has a trio of multi-hit efforts in the last six games, a stretch during which he carries a .292 batting average and .870 OPS across 27 plate appearances.
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Athletics' Sean Murphy: Another extra-base hit Sunday
Rotowire
Murphy went 2-for-5 with an RBI double and a run in a win over the White Sox on Sunday.
Murphy's fifth-inning two-bagger knocked in Vimael Machin as part of a six-run breakout for the Athletics. The slugging backstop has displayed impressive pop throughout 2022, with Sunday's double serving as his career-best 51st extra-base hit of the season (out of 118 total hits) and helping him to his second two-hit effort in the last three contests.
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Athletics' Sean Murphy: Knocks in three Tuesday
Rotowire
Murphy went 1-for-4 with an RBI groundout, a two-run home run, a walk and an additional run in a loss to Atlanta on Tuesday.
The slugging backstop authored a multi-RBI effort for the second time in the last seven games, with his third-inning blast cutting a four-run deficit in half at the time. Murphy's productive night pushed him to new career highs in home runs (18) and RBI (62).
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Athletics' Sean Murphy: Launches first career slam
Rotowire
Murphy went 3-for-5 with a home run, two runs scored and five RBI in Tuesday's 10-6 win over the Nationals.
The backstop did most of his damage in the fifth inning, as he turned on a Steve Cishek slider with the bases loaded for his first career grand slam. Murphy snapped a brief 10-game homer drought with the performance, but he's mostly been red hot since the All-Star break, slashing .298/.404/.556 over his last 35 games with eight home runs and 22 RBI.
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Athletics' Sean Murphy: Receives Sunday off
Rotowire
Murphy is out of the lineup for Sunday's game against the Yankees.
Murphy started the past 13 games and will receive a well-deserved day off after he posted a .333/.429/.604 slash line with three home runs, five RBI and seven runs during that span. Shea Langeliers will shift behind the plate while Stephen Vogt serves as the designated hitter.
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Athletics' Sean Murphy: Rips two more doubles Tuesday
Rotowire
Murphy went 2-for-4 with two doubles and a run in a loss to the Marlins on Tuesday.
Murphy continued his extra-base-hit barrage Tuesday, with his pair of two-baggers pushing his tally to a career-high 30 doubles and 47 extra-base knocks overall. Murphy's current .255 average is also the highest of any end-of-season figure he's ever produced in that category, and he now owns a .333/.422/.583 slash line in August along with a modest 15.7 percent strikeout rate.
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Athletics' Sean Murphy: Two hits in win
Rotowire
Murphy went 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI in Sunday's 5-3 victory over the Mariners.
The 27-year-old continued his torrid August with two more hits Sunday to improve his average to .328 in the month. This stretch has pushed Murphy to second among all catchers in hits and third in RBI. Murphy continues to prove that he is an upper-tier backstop, and it will be interesting to see how the Athletics split playing time between him and emerging rookie Shea Langeliers, especially as Murphy is several years removed from free agency.
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Athletics' Sean Murphy: Crushes two home runs
Rotowire
Murphy went 3-for-5 with a double, two home runs, three RBI and three total runs scored in Wednesday's victory over the Rangers.
The veteran catcher was no match for Cole Ragans, as he tagged the southpaw for two home runs on the night. He also hit a double in the top of the eighth for his third extra-base hit of the night. Murphy is now slashing .251/.327/.450 on the season and is top three among all catchers in HR, RBI and runs.
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Athletics' Sean Murphy: Smacks homer in win
Rotowire
Murphy went 2-for-5 with a solo home run and an additional run scored in Tuesday's 5-1 win over the Rangers.
Murphy went yard off Kohei Arihara to give the Athletics a 3-0 lead in the third inning. It's been a productive August for Murphy -- he's batting .304 (14-for-46) with two homers and eight RBI in 13 games. The catcher is up to a .246/.324/.429 slash line, 14 long balls, 49 RBI, 48 runs scored, one stolen base and 26 doubles through 106 contests. With top prospect Shea Langeliers joining the Athletics on Tuesday, Murphy could see a slight reduction in playing time, though it's expected he'll still regularly serve as the designated hitter when he's not behind the plate.
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Athletics' Sean Murphy: Receives Sunday off
Rotowire
Murphy is out of the lineup for Sunday's game at Houston.
Murphy started the past 13 games and will take a seat Sunday while in the midst of a 2-for-18 slump. Stephen Vogt will work behind the plate in the series finale versus the Astros.
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Athletics' Sean Murphy: Drives in two more Thursday
Rotowire
Murphy went 1-for-5 with a two-run double and a run in a win over the Angels on Thursday.
Murphy collected his sixth and seventh RBI over the last five games -- including his fifth in the last two -- with his third-inning two-bagger. The backstop did strike out in three other plate appearances, but he's been an asset for the Athletics and fantasy managers since the All-Star break with a .279/.380/.651 slash line, four doubles, four home runs, 11 RBI, seven walks and nine runs across the last 12 games.
