ATLANTA — Ronald Acuna Jr. ended April as the early favorite to win the National League MVP award. But if Sean Murphy magnifies his impressive and unexpected power surge, Acuña isn’t the only Brave to have due consideration for this honor.
“He’s a great player, a great guy, a great teammate,” said Braves starter Spencer Strider. Thank you so much for being here.”
After hitting two homers and posting a career-high six RBIs while helping the Braves to a 9-8 win over the Mets in the first game of a doubleheader at Citi Field on Monday, Murphy had a lot to offer. was praised. The veteran catcher added he added two more hits as Atlanta hit. 5-3 lose in the second game.
“I do the same things I always do,” Murphy said. “I try to be consistent with the same thing every day. Hopefully, we’ll see incremental improvements.”
It was quite a journey for the Braves, claiming a rain-shortened five-inning victory on Friday and then remaining idle as rain postponed both Saturday and Sunday games. The off didn’t seem to be a problem when he scored 6 runs in the first two innings for Twinville. But both games nailed it.
Claiming two wins in this three-game set improved the #1 Braves to 19-10, three games ahead of the Mets (16-13). This is the first time Atlanta has won at least his 19 of his 29 first games since 2003.
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But since Travis Darneau suffered the fourth concussion of his career on April 8, Murphy has done just about every catching job, so some might at least argue that Murphy deserves it as well. I can’t. , Murphy has aggressively exceeded expectations since he was acquired from A in December.
“He’s a threat every time he goes there,” said manager Brian Snicker.
Murphy posted a 1.2 fWAR on Monday, the ninth-highest of all MLB players. Even more surprising is the fact that he made his 159 weighted run to enter his 7th place in Plus (WRC+). This is a statistic that explains the ballpark factor.
With the A’s pitcher-friendly stadium no longer his home ballpark, there was hope that Murphy’s power would improve this year.But few could have predicted that he would hit eight home runs by the end of May 1. He will hit 17 homers in 2021 and hit a career-high 18 last year.
Still, despite the potential for power, few could have predicted that Murphy, alongside Matt Olson, would lead the team in home runs more than a month into the season. Some did not expect this as Murphy started the season 3-for-20 with only one extra-base hit. He produced and in that short span he recorded eight walks.
But those upset about losing William Contreras in the same three-team trade in December have gone silent as Murphy went 65-21 with six doubles and eight homers afterward. This power surge started with a walk-off home run he hit to give the Reds a 10-inning win on April 10.
Murphy extended this power surge with three-run homers he struck in the first and seventh innings of Game 1 on Monday. The veteran catcher said at nightcap that he had two hits, drew the seventh inning, and Eddie put him in position to score from the start with a Rosario go-ahead and a triple.
With his productive doubleheader, Murphy currently leads all MLB catchers in home runs and OPS (1.060). Braves fans are aware of the fact that the team upgraded when they acquired him at the cost of losing Contreras, who recorded one homer and his OPS of .779 in his first 22 games with the Brewers. It is not an exaggeration to say that we accept them.
“[Murphy] Braves starter Charlie Morton said. “Man, he hits the ball hard. He throws and is fun to be around. We’re lucky to have him.”
