MEETING JR MURPHY

Meet John Ryan Murphy. A 22-year-old 2009 2nd round draft pick from The Pendleton School in his hometown of Bradenton, Florida Murphy was called up on September 1st when rosters expanded and debuted on September 2nd getting a hit in his first major league at-bat. You can read about that in the previous BYB piece JR MURPHY GETS HIT NUMBER 1. In case you weren't watching or listening to the game, in his at-bat, Murphy was given a warm Bronx welcome by those in attendance, along with his parents who flew in from Florida to see their son get his first taste of the majors. 

But what is it about JR that has everyone warming up to the kid already? Offensively, he has done pretty well at Trenton and Scranton this year. With both teams his numbers are .269/.347/.426 in 108 games total. He has hit 12 home runs, 6 with each club. He can knock the ball. Defensively, he has thrown out 50 runners out of 136 stealing base. There's no telling how much we will see of Murphy. My guess is with Austin Romine and Chris Stewart in the mix, the chances would be minimal.   

And look, without a shadow of a doubt we are all still in that Posada hangover. Rightfully so, the Yankees have had some of the greatest catchers in the history of the game.  Yogi Berra, Elston Howard, Bill Dickey, Thurman Munson, and yes… Jorge.  Now we look to the future. We are anticipating the coming of the next great backstop to wear the pinstripes. Is it now or is it 5 years down the line? 

Is Murphy the next guy up? No one truly knows for sure right now, but we embrace JR Murphy in hopes that maybe, just maybe he will be among those great catchers of Yankee years past.

Welcome to the Bronx JR. Show us what you got kid!

-- Rudy Laurens 

BYB Writer