Former South Jersey baseball star John Murphy shines in Cincinnati Reds organization
There were days John Murphy didn’t want to go to the baseball field.
There were days he didn’t want to get out of bed.
There were days he laid and wondered why in the world he was still chasing this childhood dream.
Major League teams passed on Murphy coming out of Gloucester Catholic High School in 2015. They passed on him following his career at the University of Maryland in 2019.
For most ballplayers, that’s the end of the road. Time to get a real job.
A few keep grinding, going the independent circuit hoping a club will take a flier on a forgotten prospect.
It happens, but it’s not common, particularly for someone like Murphy, who spent the past four years playing indy ball.
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Doubts are inevitable, yet every time Murphy contemplated the end, his father’s words echoed back to him: “Never tell the game when you’re done. The game will tell you when it’s time to hang it up.”
Murphy felt he had something left. He proved himself right.
The Cincinnati Reds signed Murphy to their Single-A affiliate in February, he made his way to the High-A Dayton Dragons after just two months, and filled in for two innings at Triple-A on Monday.
“It’s been amazing,” said Murphy, who is 3-0 with 3 saves, a 2.41 ERA and 29 strikeouts over 33 2/3 innings across all levels this year. “The experience, I can’t even put into words how the experience has been. I’m not trying to get too high about it, not too low, just stay in the middle, stay professional, get my work in every day, appreciate where I’m at and go from there.”
How did Murphy defy the odds? It starts with belief.
John Murphy overlooked in high school, college
Murphy doesn’t have any hard feelings about not being drafted out of high school, but it still surprises him.
“I’m not really sure why I didn’t get drafted,” said Murphy, who was 5-2 with a 1.83 ERA and 64 strikeouts as a senior, and graduated Gloucester Catholic as the program’s all-time wins leader with 28.
Murphy had a presence even at 18 years old. He was 6-foot-4 and 230 pounds. He touched 94 mph on the radar gun.
The Reds, ironically, had a scout visit him in his home that year, but nothing came of it.
No matter, Murphy thought. He’d go to Maryland, where he’d surely impress enough people to get selected in a future draft.
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But Murphy wasn’t. He had a solid Terrapin career, going 3-4 with 16 saves, a 3.39 ERA and 118 strikeouts over three seasons, but he couldn’t elevate his velocity from high school.
“When you’re a freshman and sophomore, you think you’re going to get drafted no matter what. That’s the mindset,” Murphy said. “I felt the exact same way. Play indy ball? Why would I play indy ball? I’m going to get drafted. I’m not going to think about that. If I don’t get drafted, I’m not playing indy ball.”
Yet, after his senior year came and went, his dad’s words struck a chord.
“I still felt like I had a lot more to give in the game,” he said.
So, to indy ball he went.
'If these people believe in me, I guess I should believe in myself'
Typically, ballplayers that go from the independent leagues to the minors blow the opposition away. It’s the only way to get noticed when trying to catch eyes focused mainly on high school and college baseball.
Murphy didn’t do that. He had a good first year in the United Shore Professional Baseball League outside of Detroit, but a disastrous second season during the COVID pandemic.
“The restrictions COVID put on us were really hard from a developmental standpoint,” he said. “When we were able to pitch games, I wasn’t pitching good at all. I couldn’t throw strikes. I was walking everybody. I just couldn’t figure it out.”
Murphy was “mentally destroyed,” he said. That was the year he thought most about giving up, but his family and friends wouldn’t let him.
“I was like if these people believe in me, I guess I should believe in myself,” he said.
Murphy was able to work his way up to the Frontier League and the Washington Wild Things, but his career took the turn he needed when the Wild Things traded him to the Gateway Grizzlies in July 2021.
Murphy wasn’t pitching much with the Wild Things. The Grizzlies gave him more opportunities to hone his craft.
Then, in the leadup to the 2022 season, he started working with Tread Athletics in North Carolina.
“I really crushed the mobility with them,” said Murphy, saying he became nimbler in his hips, ankles, spine and shoulders. “I learned how to move better, and doing all that mobility work led to better mechanics, naturally. It opened up a lot of range of motion.”
His velocity, which had stagnated for years, jumped. He could touch 97.
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In 2022, he went from set-up man to closer. He was 1-4 with 9 saves, a 2.80 ERA and averaged a ridiculous 16.05 strikeouts per nine innings. He was named to the Frontier League All-Star Team.
That campaign, and a workout with Tread Athletics, led the Reds to give Murphy his shot.
“He had a track record of throwing strikes, that was the first thing that attracted us to him,” said Jeremy Farrell, Senior Director of Player Development for Cincinnati. “At the Tread Pro Day he had an uptick in velocity with a unique arm slot. He had some different fastball characteristics (vertical break from a lower arm slot) for us. … (Those three factors) sealed the deal.”
'His outlook and professionalism was really something that stood out'
Professional and positive.
Farrell noticed those characteristics in Murphy during his first interaction with him.
“We just talked about expectations and getting to know him a bit, and when it came down to it, he was going to go down to Daytona Beach (Single-A),” Farrell said. “I was being up front and honest, and his response was how grateful he was for the opportunity (not about being old for that level). His outlook and professionalism was really something that stood out.”
The two P’s are some of his best attributes, said Dayton pitching coach Todd Naskedov, as Murphy’s experience and belief in himself come with him to the mound.
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“His first outing with us was very good,” Naskedov recalled. “He came in in a leverage situation and worked out of it and made his presence felt right away he could pitch here and probably beyond.”
From a pitching perspective, Murphy does an excellent job working his fastball up in the zone and getting right-handers out. Like many minor league pitchers, he’s still developing his breaking stuff and setting lefties down, Naskedov said.
The Reds are giving Murphy the chance to make those improvements, but he understands at 26 years old, he won’t have the long leash some of his younger teammates have.
“There’s a certain level of respect for guys that grinded in indy ball that finally got their chance, but you don’t get the same amount of time to develop as an 18, 19, 20-year-old,” Murphy said. “… You’re still in High-A. Just because you’re 26 or 27 doesn’t mean you have to be perfect. Be more mature, go about your business the right way, keep working hard, show promise, and perform like you have been playing professional baseball for four years.”
Murphy is doing that and keeping his dream of making the majors alive.
“I’m definitely hungry,” he said. “I didn’t grind through four years of indy ball just to get here and be OK with being here. If this is as far as I make it, at the end of the day I’ll be very proud of myself, but at the same time, I’ll take it as far as I can.”
Josh Friedman has produced award-winning South Jersey sports coverage for the Courier Post, The Daily Journal and the Burlington County Times for more than a decade. If you have or know of an interesting story to tell, reach out on Twitter at @JFriedman57 or via email at jfriedman2@gannettnj.com. You can also contact him at 856-486-2431. Help support local journalism with a subscription.
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: John Murphy shines for Cincinnati Reds in minors
