Maybe this is rooted in superstition, but when Daniel Murphy talks about hitting and his success at it, he repeats this phrase often — “pitch in the zone I’m looking in and try to get my A swing off” — and doesn’t say much beyond that. Perhaps after seven years in the big leagues, he has learned by trial and error that it does boil down to that simple motto.
“If I go more in depth than that, I’ll talk myself out of hitting,” Murphy said before Friday’s game.
In Friday’s 8-4 win over the Twins, “the zone” appeared to be the outer edge of the plate, where opposing pitchers attacked him in him in his four at-bats. And twice, Murphy got what looked like two “A swings,” notching a single and a double.
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The two-hit game pushed Murphy to the top of the majors with a .411 average (23 for 56). He is third in baseball with a .484 on-base percentage and fourth in OPS (on-base-plus-slugging percentage) at 1.163. He has played 16 games as a National, notching hits in all but two of them — and in one of those two games, he still reached base.
“Murph has a game plan every night,” Manager Dusty Baker said. “And you can see him execute whether it’s a right-hander or a left-hander … Murph’s more than earned his keep. He’s done his thing big-time so I’m glad we have him.”
Baker said he planned to give Murphy the day off Saturday because he has played every game of the season so far.
“Murph’s a hitting machine,” starter Gio Gonzalez said. “It’s hard to get that guy out. He just has a game plan when he gets up there. A guy who’s playing the game the right way. He’s fun to be in the dugout. The guy’s pushing every one of us to get to that level of focus and everything like that.”
With the help of Mets hitting coach Kevin Long last season, Murphy made tweaks to his swing, which was already considered fundamentally sound. Long suggested that Murphy get his front foot down sooner — because he was late — which would allow him to use his legs more. Coaches also suggested hitting the ball more up the middle or to right field, where they thought the left-handed hitter could do more damage.
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“The move up on the plate last year allowed for more pitches to be able to be pulled,” Murphy said. “And we ran some numbers – not me personally but the hitting coaches in New York – and they found when I pull the ball I’m a lot more dangerous. So now, pitch in my zone, A swing.”
Murphy, who came to Washington this winter on a three-year $37.5 million deal, grew as a hitter since last season, and not simply because of his seven-homer postseason, and the improvement continues. The sample size is small, but so far Murphy is hitting fewer flyballs, far fewer groundballs and more line drives than last season. And he hitting the ball hard and to right field. He has also hit left-handed pitchers well; he is 9 for 17 against them this season.
“There’s an ebb and flow to every season,” he said. “I think I’ve got probably 10, 12 at-bats so those numbers are probably a bit skewed. But fortunately, I’ve got some good pitches to hit. [Jayson Werth] hitting behind me, who hits really well against lefties. And usually there’s usually traffic on the base paths in front of me with Bryce [Harper] and [Ryan Zimmerman]. It’s a very advantageous situation for me to be in.”
