Despite the Mets early season success, there has been one trouble point on the field for them, seemingly on a day-in and day-out basis.
It’s the play of Daniel Murphy, and his very perplexing start to the 2015 season.
Murphy is just 9-for-69 with three doubles, a home run and nine RBI to start the year. He’s always shown to be a streaky hitter in his career, but cold streaks as prolonged as this one are quite unusual.
He’s struggled badly against both right-handed pitchers and left-handed pitchers this season, but more so against southpaws – he’s just 1-for-13 against lefties so far this season.
He’s struggling with the quality of contact he’s making. He’s connecting on every single pitch he swings at inside the strike zone, but he only has a 10.3 percent line drive rate coming into play tonight, and he seems to be rolling over an unusual number of pitches for weak contact on the ground.
Ultimately, this could simply be attributed to a classic slump. It’s possible the injury-shortened spring training could have Murphy off his game, and if that’s the case, he’ll eventually bust out of this funk and be the offensive force he’s expected to be.
Besides, the offense isn’t the most troubling part of his start, anyway.
Murphy’s play at second base just hasn’t been good, not so much for the physical mistakes as much as the mental ones. There have been too many games early in which he’s simply made bad decisions on the field which have cost the team runs.
Most recently, he didn’t cover first base on a typical bunt play in yesterday’s game which translated into a run. Two days before, he decided to throw home to get the lead run in a first-and-third situation with less than two outs, rather than turn the sure 4-6-3 double play, again costing them multiple runs.
He is who he is, and that is an offensive-oriented second baseman with the hopes he can at least be competent at second base. He’s actually become quite good at turning double plays and with his footwork at the position in general. He’s worked excruciatingly hard to become better, and all things considered, he’s made great strides at the position.
But the mental mistakes only compound the other deficiencies, so they just simply need to be cleaned up and fast.
Fortunately, the team has been winning which helps them survive these issues, but at some point this just has to get better. He’s a standup guy and has not made any excuses which is commendable, but in the end these mistakes just can’t happen – eventually, they won’t only cost runs if they continue.
He knows that, so hopefully this is just part of the ebbs and flows a ballplayer goes through over the course of the season.
Originally posted April 26, 2015, 1:03 pm
Just Mets 
8 responses to “It’s been a rough start for Daniel Murphy in 2015…”
Just an FYI-covering first late yesterday did not cost the Mets a run even though Gary Cohen referenced that more than a few times on the telecast. The double play on the next batter erased the botched bunt play. The run scored on that double play as it would have had there not been a runner on 1st.
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Initially, I thought the same as you did. But think about it. If there was one out, they wouldn’t have had to go for the double play (obviously), but the fielder (Flores?) could have looked the runner back to third, or even thrown him out instead of going to 1B.
Gary Cohen is too bright and too knowledgeable to make a mistake like we both thought he did.
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It could be due to the reasons you stated.
But I wonder if the fact the Mets obviously don’t want him beyond this year has affected his confidence. Confidence is extremely important in hitting. I think part of the reason Lucas Duda has been on a tear is because he got a tremendous boost in confidence from the Mets offering him a long-term deal this spring.
On the other hand, players usually do very well in their walk-year. So who knows?
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He’s good for a sub .500 team, where his bat is worth his poor baserunning and atrocious defense. But for team playing for something, he’s a utility infielder. Addition by subtraction, it’s time to move on. Thanks Dan, good luck in Cleveland or Philly
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Its time to move on from Daniel Murphy through a trade for a true middle infielder.
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Sounds like adult Attention Deficit Disorder.
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I wonder if he’s been getting hate mail since he made his stance on gays?
I could see how threats might get into his head and destroy confidence.
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Yup. I had intended to add that to my comment, but I forgot.
You said it very well, however.
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