Blue Jays: Hard work pays off – An interview with Patrick Murphy

Prospect Patrick Murphy was able to sit down and discuss his bumpy road to becoming a successful Minor League arm in the Toronto Blue Jays Organization. His drive and dedication to the craft are getting him very close to a new challenge.

During my conversation with Patrick Murphy, we touched on all sorts of baseball topics. We discussed when he was drafted, his injuries, and how he has performed since being healthy. The main theme I got from our chat was that dedication and hard work pay off. His drive to play Major League Baseball has kept him going through all of the tedious rehab workouts and injuries to have two great seasons in the system.

Being an athlete and running into injuries consistently like Murphy has is never good. Many players do not overcome these kinds of difficulties or rush back and stumble out of the gate. Patrick has not only bounced back from Tommy John Surgery but also had a run in with Thoracic outlet syndrome. These issues for a young player could have been not just physically demanding to return from, but mentally draining. Murphy worked diligently with the Toronto Blue Jays Medical Staff and found a way back onto the field.

Murphy said, “The biggest thing I learned during the time with the injuries was patience and dealing with adversity.”

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He put the trust in his doctors and the team staff to help him get back to doing what he loved. He mentioned the hardest part was watching his teammates go out and play and having a need to get on the field to help his teammates. That drive to contribute to the team seemed very selfless to this writer. For all the difficulties he was going through on a personal level, his biggest issue was not being on the field helping the team win. The patience would pay off later for Murphy, once he was able to toe the rubber.

Murphy was very forthcoming on how he viewed the Blue Jays Organization. He was very happy they stood with him through all the initial rough spots. The Blue Jays were so confident in his future efforts they selected him in the 3rd round of the 2013 draft knowing he had just had Tommy John Surgery. He was near blindsided by the call from his agent to inform him that he was going to be a Blue Jay in the next few picks. He was home alone at the time of the call and had an extended celebration throughout the day as his family came home one after the other.

In 2016 he was able to really show off his talents on the mound. 2016 in his words were “just get back into the swing of things, get a rhythm, get back on the bump and build up some innings.” That is exactly what he did in his first showing with the Vancouver Canadians and Lansing Lugnuts. He racked up 90 innings and looked solid doing it. He was on an innings limits to protect his arm, but had no issues staying on the mound during the year.

On to 2017 where he really settled in and put his talents on full display for a full season. A great effort through 90 innings with the Lansing Lugnuts earned him an audition with the Dunedin Blue Jays to end the season. He clearly has no lingering issues from any of the injuries as he effortlessly hits 90 MPH on the radar gun. Typically he will hang around 92-93, but possesses a curveball that can keep hitters completely off balance. He admits that the curve is his favorite pitch, and it really can drop like a hammer on opposing hitters. Over the 2017 season, he has been progressing on a changeup as well.

The change is something new from Murphy and he has been making a point to throw it more often. While chatting he mentioned that he will need to figure out the third pitch to get to where he wants in his career. The change has been working for him thus far, and has helped him take another step toward the ultimate goal of being a big league pitcher.

Patrick Murphy has plenty of goals for this season. He is looking to eat up more innings and get further into games. His idea is to throw more changeups and continue to become comfortable with the pitch. This will give him the ability to keep hitters guessing and off balance.

“I want to command all three of my pitches. Go out there every fifth day, stay healthy all year, and pitch deep into games.”

He currently is very happy playing with the Dunedin Blue Jays with the amount of talent around him. He said there is a fun level of competition in the clubhouse and all of them are trying to one-up each other. He made sure to say that this only brings the team closer together and they all work very hard together. They find a way to keep it light and compete at a high level while having fun.

Prior to this interview Patrick Murphy had two starts and has been good in both. He was lights out during his first start to kick off 2018. He had a couple innings in the second start that he thought he was not executing his pitches as well. He mentioned that he was not keeping the ball low in the zone, and that was where he was having his best success thus far this season.

Patrick Murphy has been building on a solid reputation over the past few years and looks to be the next breakout pitcher in the Blue Jays Organization. He has the tools and the talent to climb quickly. He has so far been able to conquer the health issues that slowed the start of his baseball career and has been finding a great stride along the way. The Blue Jays may be looking to challenge him sooner rather then later if he continues to work hard and rise to the occasion as he has shown thus far.

For the entire interview I had with Patrick Murphy please check it the Jays Journal Podcast right here. Patrick and I had great conversation and found a few good laughs while we talked about all fun things baseball diamond related.

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