Are You Saying John Ryan Murphy Can't Hit A Curveball?

When the Minnesota Twins acquired catcher John Ryan Murphy from the Yankees, the Twins’ front office touted his potential to be an impact player both as a defensive catcher and an offensive one as well.

In the aftermath of the deal, Twins assistant GM Rob Antony told reporters that his staff felt that Murphy had the potential to be a solid “two-way” catcher -- meaning he would be able to contribute both behind the plate and next to it. Sharing that sentiment was Yankees GM Brian Cashman who felt that Murphy had the talent to start but was blocked by Brian McCann and being chased by catching prospect Gary Sanchez, making him the perfect trade piece to a team seeking a catcher with starter potential and nabbing Aaron Hicks, whom Fangraphs.com just determined as one of the game’s most “well-rounded” players, in the process.

So can Murphy be a two-way player? Let’s set aside the catching aspect and focus on the stick.

The bar to be an average offensive catcher is not set very high. In fact, overall in 2015, major league catchers posted a collective .682 OPS. In his limited exposure with the Yankees this past season (172 plate appearances), Murphy (who we are dubbing “The Serial Killer” for his use of three names) cleared this with ease. But here’s the rub: While he proved that he could mash fastballs but he hasn’t shown that he can handle the curveball yet in his time at the major league level. Throw him a heat and you will likely see a solidly stroked line drive but spin him a curve and he’ll barely nub it past the mound.

It is not that he is swinging through the bender, he simply has trouble hitting it squarely. To be fair, it is a small sample size and Murphy has not seen a high number of curves (according to Fangraphs.com it has been just 9% of his pitch mix since 2014), but the 24-year-old has not managed to put one in play with any sort of authority. As you can see from the chart below, with the exception of a floating liner and a couple of pop-outs, the majority of balls he has put in play have been choppers to the third baseman:

Like this one:

http://i.imgur.com/J39NN7x.gif

Here is Murphy’s only hit this season on a curveball:

http://i.imgur.com/pw6yNRK.gif

Is this an ominous sign that Murphy may never fully develop into a complete hitter? Will he be eaten alive by big mind-bending breakers next year? Obviously the sample size is nowhere near significant enough to make any informed deductions but let’s jump to conclusions nonetheless. Murphy is still a young hitter and, in terms of the weak contact, the common theme appears to be being caught off-guard by professional-grade curveballs on hitters' and even counts -- those counts in which a minor league hitter might expect a fastball. What we see is a guess hitter at this point in his career. In the examples above, he was guessing fastball and was well out front when the breaking ball came.

There are plenty of good major league hitters who are unable to do much damage on curveballs. Mike Trout, Robinson Cano, Evan Longoria were among some of the game’s better hitters this past season who have done little against curveballs. What makes them better hitters is avoiding biting on those pitches. For Murphy, preparation and experience will likely help him become more consistent.

This may be an exercise in pebble-hunting to be sure, but if he is able to refine his approach against curves Murphy just might become that two-way catcher the Twins coveted.

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