Sean Murphy

30-Year-Old CatcherC

Atlanta Braves

2024 Stats

AVG

.193

RBI

2025 Projections

AVG

RBI

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2025 Fantasy Outlook

Murphy strained his oblique on Opening Day last season and wound up missing more than eight weeks of action. It turned out to be a harbinger of doom, as the 30-year-old suffered through his worst season with a lowly .636 OPS and sub-.200 batting average. Dating back to the 2023 All-Star break, Murphy is slashing just .181/.294/.323 across 432 plate appearances. He also has a 37 percent hard-hit rate over that stretch, which is down significantly from his career 42.4 percent mark. A spike in his ground ball rate (53.9 percent) also conspired to hold Murphy back in 2024. He's young enough and talented enough to return to being a starting-caliber fantasy catcher in 2025, and Murphy's playing time outlook went up after Atlanta declined Travis d'Arnaud's option and he wound up signing with the Angels. Read Past Outlooks

RANKS

From Preseason

Overall Rank

Dynasty

#217

ADP

League Majors

Bats R

Throws R

40 Man Yes

Height 6'3"

Weight 215

DOB 10/4/1994

Drafted 3rd Rd 2016

Expecting rebound in 2025

CAtlanta Braves

February 19, 2025

Murphy believes the oblique injury he suffered Opening Day last season prevented him from ever getting comfortable with his swing, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports. "It was a combination of a bunch of things," Murphy said this week. "Missing that much time at the beginning, that's not how I wanted to begin the season. I'm not sure my swing ever felt correct coming off the oblique, not that I was in any pain or hurt. Some things just fell off, and I never caught up and found a way to adjust."

ANALYSIS
The 30-year-old backstop roared out to an .843 OPS with 21 homers and 68 RBI -- all career highs -- over 108 games in his first season for Atlanta in 2023, but Murphy's production cratered in 2024 through 72 contests after he returned from the oblique strain. The team seems confident that the poor performance was an aberration, however, as Travis d'Arnaud was allowed to leave in free agency, leaving only Chadwick Tromp, Curt Casali and prospect Drake Baldwin competing for the backup job in camp. Murphy still has four more seasons left on the six-year, $73 million contract he signed in 2022, with Atlanta holding a $15 million club option for 2029, so he will be given every chance to regain his previous offensive form.

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Batting Stats

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2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

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2023 MLB Game Log

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2022 MLB Game Log

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2021 MLB Game Log

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2020 MLB Game Log

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Minor League Game Log

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Batting Order Slot Breakdown

vs Right-Handed Pitchers

vs RHP

vs Left-Handed Pitchers

vs LHP

Left/Right Batting Splits

Since 2022

+10%

OPS vs LHP

2024

+4%

OPS vs LHP

2023

+6%

OPS vs LHP

2022

+16%

OPS vs LHP

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2022vs Left	.817	333	43	15	39	0	.237	.354	.462
Since 2022vs Right	.743	980	108	34	120	1	.239	.327	.417
2024vs Left	.654	70	6	4	9	0	.175	.257	.397
2024vs Right	.629	194	13	6	16	0	.200	.294	.335
2023vs Left	.884	101	15	4	9	0	.274	.396	.488
2023vs Right	.832	337	50	17	59	0	.245	.356	.476
2022vs Left	.848	162	22	7	21	0	.242	.370	.477
2022vs Right	.728	449	45	11	45	1	.252	.318	.410
More Splits→	View More Split Stats

Home/Away Batting Splits

Since 2022

+13%

OPS on Road

2024

+14%

OPS on Road

2023

+9%

OPS on Road

2022

+16%

OPS on Road

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2022Home	.715	649	70	19	69	0	.229	.325	.390
Since 2022Away	.807	664	81	30	90	1	.248	.342	.465
2024Home	.594	130	9	4	11	0	.197	.269	.325
2024Away	.678	134	10	6	14	0	.190	.299	.379
2023Home	.807	221	33	8	30	0	.253	.367	.441
2023Away	.880	217	32	13	38	0	.250	.364	.516
2022Home	.702	298	28	7	28	0	.226	.319	.383
2022Away	.812	313	39	11	38	1	.272	.345	.467
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Stat Review

How does Sean Murphy compare to other hitters?

This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.

BB/K
Walk to strikeout ratio
BB Rate
The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
K Rate
The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
BABIP
Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
ISO
Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
AVG
Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
OBP
On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
SLG
Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
OPS
On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
wOBA
Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
Exit Velocity
The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
Hard Hit Rate
A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
Barrels/PA
The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
Expected BA
Expected Batting Average.
Expected SLG
Expected Slugging Percentage.
Sprint Speed
The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
Ground Ball %
The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
Line Drive %
The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
Fly Ball %
The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.

BB/K

0.40

BB Rate

10.2%

K Rate

25.4%

BABIP

.223

ISO

.159

AVG

.193

OBP

.284

SLG

.352

OPS

.636

wOBA

.285

Exit Velocity

88.0 mph

Hard Hit Rate

31.5%

Barrels/PA

6.1%

Expected BA

.214

Expected SLG

.399

Sprint Speed

22.1 ft/sec

Ground Ball %

53.9%

Line Drive %

12.6%

Fly Ball %

33.5%

Prospect Rankings History

View Complete Sean Murphy Prospect Ranking History

Advanced Batting Stats

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Additional Stats

Games By Position

Defensive Stats

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Batted Ball Stats

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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers

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Past Fantasy Outlooks

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

When Atlanta acquired Murphy, it was coming off a season where he had collected 611 plate appearances for the Athletics. While it was anticipated Murphy wouldn't repeat that with Travis d'Arnaud in the mix, most expected Murphy would gather more than the 438 plate appearances he recorded. Confusing matters more is Murphy's 129 wRC+ was the highest of all catchers with at least as many plate appearances, and Murphy's defense was outstanding. Meanwhile, when healthy, d'Arnaud's offense and defense both displayed signs of decline. Perhaps the extra rest helped Murphy, as he posted career highs in average exit velocity, hard-hit rate and barrel percent. Even so, it's curious why Murphy didn't play more. Both backstops will be back with Atlanta this season, so it must be assumed Murphy will continue to lose playing time to his veteran counterpart. However, at some point, Atlanta should realize Murphy is the better option. Paying for more playing time is defensible, just don't take the leap to 2022 levels.

Murphy came into the season known more for his glove work than his bat, yet finished the season as the fifth-best fantasy backstop behind only Realmuto, Varsho, Smith, and Perez. Murphy pulled a Perez-like workload in plate appearances with 612 plate appearances, but Oakland used him at DH 30 times to reduce the wear and tear on his knees. He rewarded them by reducing his strikeout rate and setting career bests in every possible category, even with his first career steal! Murphy could see a decrease in plate appearances following a trade to Atlanta, but it could be a net positive given the lineup upgrade. It has already been reported that Murphy and Travis d'Arnaud will each see time at designated hitter when the other is catching.

While Murphy continued to establish himself as one of the game's top defensive backstops, the 27-year-old endured his fair share of offensive struggles last season. He slashed .216/.306./405 with 17 homers while striking out at a 25.4% clip. Instead of seeing some positive regression from his .278 BABIP in 2020, Murphy saw his average on balls in play drop even further to .257 in 2021. Now is not the time to be overly pessimistic about Murphy's offensive potential going forward, however, especially considering that 2021 was his first full 162-game big-league season. If he can cut down on his strikeouts and have better luck when he does put the ball in play, he may be able to improve across the board offensively in 2022. At the very least, fantasy owners can be confident that his elite defense will keep him among the league leaders in games started behind the plate.

Murphy's 2020 Statcast page paints a confusing picture. His average exit velocity and hard-hit rate were 91st percentile while he toted an 83rd percentile barrel rate. Yet, his expected batting average was a paltry .211, in part due to a 26.4 K% as well as a home park that suppresses hits. It bodes well how hard Murphy stings the ball when he happens to hit it. A 17.4 BB% is also encouraging. Murphy's power metrics are promising as he posted a 22.6% HR/FB and 39.6% flyball rate last season. Don't be fooled by last season's .233 average. With fewer strikeouts and a BABIP more reflective of his batted-ball profile, Murphy has breakthrough potential. All this on top of excellent glove work, a strong arm and improving pitch framing mean he's sure to see bountiful playing time. The floor is shaky, but the ceiling is enticing.

It's hard to start a career much hotter than Murphy did. After missing most of the early part of the season with knee issues, he made his first career start in early September and went on to hit .414 with four homers in his first nine games of the month. He came down to earth after that, grabbing just one hit in 10 games over the rest of the month, but it was enough to make him the starting catcher heading into the playoffs. He will hold onto that job this season and should be a viable option in most formats. The 25-year-old hit .288/.369/.521 across his last two seasons in the minors, and scouts project him to hit for plus power with an average or better hit tool. His defense has a chance to be excellent, so he could rank near the top of the position in games played, with the one big caveat that he has missed significant time with injuries in each of the last two seasons.

Murphy spent the bulk of the 2018 season with Double-A Midland, posting a strong .288/.358/.498 line with eight homers in 68 games. Those numbers represented significant growth from his 53-game stint at the same level the season prior, when he hit just .209/.288/.309. The young backstop did miss a month and a half late in the season after undergoing wrist surgery, but he returned to play eight games at the end of the year, including his first three at the Triple-A level. That's probably the level at which he'll spend the bulk of this year, though he'll have a chance for at least some MLB at-bats, especially given the Athletics' lack of established options at his position. Scouting reports project Murphy as a fairly good defender, which should help him get playing time. He doesn't project for much more than average power or contact.

More Fantasy News

Not in lineup for first game

CAtlanta Braves

September 30, 2024

Murphy is absent from the lineup in the first game of Monday's doubleheader against the Mets.