A Conversation with Blake Murphy: His Career, Thoughts on the Draft, and Vladdy’s Struggles

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Sportsnet’s Blake Murphy for a wide-ranging conversation that included his path into the media world, his dual-sport coverage of baseball and basketball, his thoughts on the Blue Jays’ 2025 draft strategy, and the current struggles of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.

Murphy’s voice has become a familiar one, whether it’s breaking down the Raptors on The Raptors Show, diving into trade deadline strategy on Blue Jays Talk, or being an on-air voice for Blue Jays Central. That said, his journey to this point wasn’t linear.

A Conversation with Blake Murphy

“I grew up as a kid where hockey was my whole life,” Murphy shared. “I thought at one point that I would get good enough to potentially play Junior B or something like that. It obviously didn’t turn out.” Basketball and baseball didn’t enter the picture until later on. A wrestling injury in Murphy's senior year of high school opened the door to basketball, while his love for baseball came through his grandfather.

Robbie: So, when did you really start seeing sports media as something you could do for a living?

Blake: “I didn’t really think it was like a serious career that you could do. I wrote a little bit for fun… had my own blog site, but I was headed to law school.”

A couple of deferrals and a year of writing experience later, Murphy attended UBC’s Journalism program, but left early to take a job in the industry. “That was cool 'cause it gave me license to just write for a year,” he explained. “I still did schoolwork and worked for the athletic department, but mostly I just wrote—hockey, basketball, baseball, even some UFC.”

Murphy continued. "I wasn’t even sure what kind of role I wanted in media at the time,” he said. “I just knew I liked breaking things down and explaining stuff, whether it was stats, strategy, whatever. I figured if I kept writing, maybe someone would notice.”

Since then, he has become a trusted voice across platforms, known for his analytics and entertaining insight. What's unique about his position, though, is the fact that he's focused on the Raptors and the Blue Jays year-round.

“There’s a challenge with it in that sense,” Murphy said. “I’m on the Jays right now, so I can’t be at Summer League. That’s a really good time for reporting and building relationships. Same in December, I miss Winter Meetings because I’m on Raptors.”

Robbie: Do you ever find it hard to shift your mindset between baseball and basketball season?

Blake: “Not really. It’s more about tailoring to the audience. For baseball, I can go deep on one stat topic, people know what OPS or WAR is. With basketball, I get more into X’s and O’s. There’s less shared vocabulary, so I need visuals or context.”

While on the topic of stats, I was curious to know which statistic in baseball is overvalued, in Murphy's opinion.

Blake: “People probably think I’ll say RBI, but I kind of think wins above replacement has gotten too accepted. People use it as a conversation-ender. It’s a great tool, but it’s misused sometimes, especially in ranking or team-building. If the Jays could add two wins right now, we’d be doing backflips. But for the White Sox? Who cares."

"I think WAR’s value has plateaued a bit in terms of how people use it,” he continued. “It was an amazing bridge stat when analytics were first becoming mainstream, but now people throw it around like it’s the final word. It’s not."

Turning to the 2025 MLB Draft, I asked Murphy what stood out about the Blue Jays’ approach, to grab impact bats early, and pitchers in the middle rounds.

Blake: “I like that they’ve settled into a strategy the last couple years,” he said. “They do a really good job identifying guys who can move quickly through the minors and have a pretty high floor. If that’s your strength, then yeah, use top picks on higher-ceiling guys.”

He mentioned Arjun Nimmala and JoJo Parker as examples then praised how much the system’s pitching has improved. “That Double-A rotation is so sick. Now with Khal Stephen joining them, I love it.”

He also mentioned late-round pick Noah Bullard, highlighting that if the Jays can sign both him and Spencer in the 11th and 12th rounds, “you’ll feel pretty good” about the class. "Also, it's not just about who you draft, it’s about what kind of player they project to be in your system,” he said. “They’re not necessarily drafting stars, but guys you can count on, guys who might be on your 40-man in two years.”

Robbie: I have to ask, any real concerns about Vladdy right now?

Blake: “Yeah, he’s not doing damage on stuff right over the middle of the plate… and he’s letting the pitch go by 30% of the time when it’s right there.”

Murphy said that there's no need to panic with Vlad, though. “I kind of just trust at this point that he will figure it out. We never have a great explanation for it other than like, his hand moved an eighth of an inch or something. But the not doing damage on the easy stuff is the most frustrating part for me.”

Stay tuned for future editions of my conversation with Sportsnet's Blake Murphy, as we dive into several more topics, including this year's trade deadline.