Basisphilosophie » He was the best hitting head of our catching Cerberus.

Not that this is saying very much..."2018 rating: 3.892017 rating: 3.112018 salary: league minimum2018 performance: 87 games http://www.oriolesfanproshop.com/authentic-j.j.-hardy-jersey , 223 PA, .202/.244/.375 = .619 OPS2019 status: 1st-year arbitrationThe 2018 Diamondbacks had a roller-coaster season. But of all the players, few had a more roller-coaster season than John Ryan Murphy. On June 1, he had a .950 OPS, having hit eight home-run in just 83 plate-appearances. With Alex Avila’s OPS on the same date being less than half that (.453), the fanbase were increasingly vociferous for Murphy’s playing-time to replace that of Avila. But then the script flipped: Murphy batted only .155 the rest of the way, with an even lower OPS of just .418. At one point John Ryan went six and a half weeks between hits (July 6-August 21), going 0-for-33 over a 14-game stretch - one of the worst streaks by any position player in franchise history. The rise and fall of Murphy can be seen in the number of starts he made each month behind the plate. It’s hard to fault manager Torey Lovullo for his usage: trying to ride the catcher while he was hot, then cutting back on playing time after JRM apparently fell into a vat of carbonite at the All-Star break. April: 5May: 8 (plus one as DH)June: 14July: 9August: 4September: 4Yet, when all was said and done, Murphy’s OPS on the season was .619, compared to his career OPS of... .618. Yep, despite the torrid pace of April and May, followed by the frozen wastes thereafter, at the plate, he ended up being offensively almost exactly who he had been over his previous five seasons in the majors. Which would be “not very good” Jonathan Schoop Jersey , though the Murphmaster still ended up with the highest OPS of any of the catchers used by the Diamondbacks this year, ahead of Avila (.603) and Jeff Mathis (.544). Still, never let it be forgotten that in 2015, the Twins traded Aaron Hicks - who got mentioned on an MVP ballot this week - to the Yankees in exchange for Murphy. However, Murphy was never expected to be much offensively, and much like Mathis, his value was seen to be on defense. In pitch-framing this year, he was seen as somewhat positive, at +3.8 runs added (well below Mathis’s MLB-best figure of +14.1). However, broadening his catcher’s skills out to include controlling the running game and blocking, Baseball Prospectus overall rated Murphy the 10th-best defensive catcher this year, worth 9.9 FRAA_Adj. That’s a good deal closer to Mathis’s 14.1, the second-best figure in baseball behind Yasmani Grandal, with Avila some way back at 4.4. [Playing time for the three was roughly comparable: Mathis caught 523.2 innings; Avila 488.0; and Murphy 446.2]Here’s a play I’m sure we particularly enjoyed. Yasiel Puig grounding out to the infield, but the throw to first was errant. Fortunately, Murphy was backing up http://www.oriolesfanproshop.com/authentic-j.j.-hardy-jersey , and because Puig turned towards second, John Ryan was able to throw the ball back to Goldschmidt to get the out. A reminder that every player always has somewhere to be, on every play. With the departure of Mathis for pastures Texan next season, it’ll be interesting to see what the team does. Avila and Murphy are both under team control, with the latter being considerably cheaper - MLB Trade Rumors predicts a salary of $1.1 million for JRM, in his first season of arbitration. Given those defensive skills, it seems possible he might end up replacing Mathis as Zack Greinke’s personal catcher for 2019, if Greinke stays with the Diamondbacks of course. Will the team be satisfied with two catchers this season? There would appear to be platoon possibilities, with Avila a left-hander hitter and Murph batting from the right. But that may depend on good - or, at least, half-decent - Avila showing up. I wasn’t impressed with the three catcher approach taken last year, especially since none of them hit worth a damn. The NL line at the position last year was .238/.316/.382 for a .698 OPS. The D-backs were at .189/.270/.319, an OPS 109 points worse than average, ranked last in the league by 35 points. While there’s reason why catcher should remain a defense-first slot, this was a year where our offense struggled at too many positions. That side of the equation is likely more on Avila than Murphy, and if JRM remains as defensively solid as he appears to have been in 2018 Darren O'Day Jersey , I’d be happy if he is our worst-hitting catcher next year. TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Even Zack Britton gets confused about the proper spelling of his first name.Known throughout his baseball career as Zach, the 31-year-old New York Yankees reliever said last week that going forward his name should be spelled Zack.“I was born with a ‘ch’, sorry, excuse me, the ‘ck,'” Britton said Monday after his first pre-spring training workout at the New York Yankees’ minor league complex.Britton was traded to the Yankees from Baltimore last summer, became a free agent and agreed to a $39 million, three-year contract with New York last month. The contract initially used Zach before it was changed.“My wife is an attorney, and she’s like legally we need to change it because legally that’s not your name,” Britton said. “The Orioles always put ‘k’ on any, like, legal documents and then they just went with an ‘h’ (on printed rosters). The Yankees just felt like it was better for everybody if I just kept it with a ‘k,’ and I was like, yeah, why not?”Britton said with a smile that he’s “blaming my parents” because they had told him it was an ‘h.’Britton tweeted last Thursday “I will be going by my legal name ‘Zack’ instead of my stage name http://www.oriolesfanproshop.com/authentic-j.j.-hardy-jersey ,” and added “everyone continue to breath normally.”The attention it drew on social media came as a surprise.“I was just like kind of a funny joke and it kind of took off,” Britton saidHis name was spelled “Zachary G. Britton” by Major League Baseball when the Baltimore Orioles selected him in the third round of the 2006 amateur draft with the 85th overall pick and he was listed as “Zach” in each of Baltimore’s media guides starting in 2007. He made his major league debut in 2011 and was an All-Star in 2015 and ’16.He is listed as “Zackary Grantantero Britton” in the California Birth Index, “Zackary Grant Antero Britton” in his 2017 Texas voter registration and “Zackary G. Britton” in his 2015 Nevada voter registration. His auto registrations have been as “Zackary” and “Zack.”Britton had Achilles’ tendon surgery in December 2017 that delayed his first big league outing last year until June 12. He ran a mile Monday for the first time since the surgery.It’s a drastic change from one year ago.“I was learning to walk again on an underwater treadmill probably at this time,” Britton said. “A huge difference. So, I just feel like a normal guy.”Notes: SS Didi Gregorius (Tommy John surgery) made 25 throws at 60 feet in his first on-field throwing session. “It’s still a waiting game for me,” Gregorius said. “It’s getting there.” Gregorius also took grounders with Troy Tulowitzki, who was signed as a free agent during the offseason to fill in at shortstop. … C Gary Sanchez (left shoulder surgery) resumed on-field batting practice and hit several long homers. … LHP Luis Severino had a couple offseason objectives after struggling the second half of last season. He won 14 of his first 16 decisions, then five of his last 11. “I changed a little bit of my workout,” Severino said. “I think, maybe I got a little bit tired towards the end. My mechanics, I’m not sure, maybe I was tipping some pitches. I want to make sure this year none of that happens.” … RHP Masahiro Tanaka and RF Aaron Judge joined the early workouts.