Murphy is slated to have imaging performed on his injured thumb Friday in order to determine whether he's ready to return to baseball activities, the team's official site reports.
Murphy suffered a thumb sprain in mid-August but subsequently suffered a small fracture in the thumb in early September, and he's been shut down altogether since Sept. 11. Friday's evaluation should give the Mariners a clearer picture of whether he'll return before the end of the regular season. Murphy's been a key contributor in 2023 with an .873 OPS across 158 plate appearances.
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Mariners' Tom Murphy: Nursing small fracture in thumb
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Murphy has been diagnosed with a small fracture in his left thumb and has been shut down for the last 10 days. He'll be re-evaluated Sept. 22, Shannon Drayer of Seattle Sports 710 AM reports.
Murphy was initially placed on the 10-day injured list Aug. 16 due to a thumb sprain, and this setback will cost him additional time. Despite this bad news, the team is still optimistic that Murphy could return to play before the regular season comes to a close if he gains clearance Sept. 22 and can ramp up activities without suffering any setbacks, per Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times.
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Mariners' Tom Murphy: Set to increase activities
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Murphy (thumb) is expected to be cleared to increase the intensity of his baseball activities this week, Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times reports.
Murphy has been sidelined since mid-August with a left thumb sprain but seems to have made a rapid recovery. It's not clear at this point whether he will require a rehab assignment before rejoining the Mariners.
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Mariners' Tom Murphy: Goes on IL with thumb spain
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Seattle placed Murphy on the 10-day injured list Wednesday with a left thumb sprain.
The injury comes with awful timing for Murphy, who has been playing more regularly in recent weeks and boasts a .355/.393/.697 batting line over his last 24 games (85 plate appearances) dating back to June 12. Brian O'Keefe was called up from Triple-A Tacoma in a corresponding move to back up Cal Raleigh at catcher.
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Mariners' Tom Murphy: Adds three more hits
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Murphy went 3-for-4 with a run scored in Wednesday's victory over the Red Sox.
Murphy has been red hot for the past week, going 10-for-22 (.455) with a pair of homers in his last six games. The 32-year-old backstop now has a 1.294 OPS since June 23 (17 games). Murphy's hot stretch has earned him a larger share of the workload behind the plate, with Cal Raleigh seeing more time at DH. Overall, Murphy's slash line is up to .300/.340/.577 with eight homers, 17 runs scored and 16 RBI across 141 plate appearances this season.
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Mariners' Tom Murphy: Remains hot Saturday
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Murphy went 1-for-3 with a solo home run and an additional RBI in a loss to the Diamondbacks on Saturday.
Murphy plated the game's first run with a sacrifice fly in the second inning and later hit a solo shot to left field for Seattle's final tally of the contest. The backstop has opened the second half of the season on a strong note, batting .308 (8-for-26) with three homers and six RBI over eight games. That's helped him see more playing time of late, though Cal Raleigh -- who started at DH on Saturday -- remains the team's first option behind the plate.
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Mariners' Tom Murphy: Plates pair in Friday's win
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Murphy went 2-for-4 with a two-run double in a win over the Diamondbacks on Friday.
Murphy capped off the Mariners' big four-run first inning with his timely two-bagger that plated Teoscar Hernandez and Cal Raleigh. The veteran backstop seems to do nothing but produce whenever he's given an opportunity, and he's now hitting .304 with three doubles, two home runs, four RBI, a hit-by-pitch and five runs in the seven games he's played since the All-Star break.
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Mariners' Tom Murphy: Swats seventh homer
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Murphy went 2-for-4 with a solo home run and a double in an extra-inning loss to the Twins on Monday.
The game was scoreless through four frames before Murphy put the Mariners on the board with a 421-foot solo shot to center field in the fifth. It was his seventh homer of the season, six of which have come over his past 14 contests. Murphy has been red-hot over that span, batting .372 (16-for-43) with nine extra-base hits. While he's still behind Cal Raleigh on the depth chart, the productive stretch has earned Murphy more playing time.
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Mariners' Tom Murphy: Goes yard in loss
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Murphy went 1-for-3 with a solo home run in Wednesday's 6-3 loss to the Twins.
Murphy got the Mariners on the board with his sixth-inning blast off Kenta Maeda. While his playing time remains sparse, Murphy has taken advantages of his opportunities by going 5-for-15 (.333) with two homers in July. The backup catcher is batting .275 with six long balls, 11 RBI, 12 runs scored and nine doubles over 112 plate appearances this season.
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Mariners' Tom Murphy: On base four times in win
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Murphy went 2-for-2 with a solo home run and two walks in a win over the White Sox on Sunday.
Murphy continued to reward manager Scott Servais for affording him one of his occasional starts, slugging his fifth homer of the season in the sixth inning and serving as a thorn in the side of Rays pitching throughout the afternoon. The 32-year-old has pushed his season slash line to a stellar .281/.337/.551 across 98 plate appearances, with the latter figure largely the byproduct of Murphy lacing 14 of his 25 hits for extra bases. Murphy has notably drawn starts in three of his last four games -- the first time that's happened all season -- and the combination of his hot bat and ability to fill in at both designated hitter and catcher could afford him similarly frequent playing time moving forward.
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Mariners' Tom Murphy: Smacks fourth homer
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Murphy went 1-for-2 with a two-run home run and a walk in a loss to the Rays on Friday.
The veteran got the start at designated hitter and once again thrived versus a lefty, taking what turned out to be a less-than-100-percent Shane McClanahan (back) deep in the second inning with Teoscar Hernandez aboard. Murphy's bat seems unfazed by the fact he sees sporadic playing time, as he's now hitting .409 (9-for-22) with two doubles, three homers, seven RBI, a walk and four runs across his last six starts dating back to June 10.
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Mariners' Tom Murphy: Rips three hits in loss
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Murphy went 3-for-3 in a loss to the Nationals on Wednesday.
The veteran backstop drew the start against left-hander Patrick Corbin and authored his first three-hit game of the season and seventh multi-hit effort overall. Murphy's appearance in the starting nine was only his second in the last 10 games as Cal Raleigh continues to command the majority of playing time behind the dish. However, Murphy has been progressively more productive in recent opportunities, now having hit safely in four of his last five starts and raising his average 44 points to .259 in the process.
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Mariners' Tom Murphy: Goes deep in win
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Murphy went 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and three RBI in Friday's 13-1 win over the Mariners.
The backup catcher made his first start since last weekend and took advantage of the opportunity with his third home run of the season. Cal Raleigh is having another solid year behind the plate for Seattle, so Murphy should remain in a secondary role for the foreseeable future.
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Mariners' Tom Murphy: Launches second homer
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Murphy went 2-for-4 with a double, a solo home run and an additional run scored in an 8-1 win over the Marlins on Monday.
Drawing his second start in three games with left-hander Jesus Luzardo on the mound for the Marlins, Murphy continued the extra-base-hit barrage that's been his trademark during his sparse opportunities this season. The veteran's eighth double of the season came off Luzardo, while his 408-foot shot to center in the eighth provided the final run of the game for either club. Ten of Murphy's 17 hits on the season have gone for extra bases, and his current .233 average represents his highest figure in the category since May 20.
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Mariners' Tom Murphy: Timely knock after four-game layoff
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Murphy went 1-for-4 with an RBI single in a win over the Angels on Saturday.
Making his first start in five games, Murphy extended the Mariners' lead to 4-2 with his fourth-inning single. The veteran backstop continues to find opportunities sparse behind Cal Raleigh, as he's appeared in just 23 of Seattle's 63 games. The lack of consistent playing time likely isn't helping Murphy's timing at the plate any -- he's carrying just a .217 average and .270 on-base percentage -- but it's worth noting he's knocked eight of his 15 hits for extra bases.
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Mariners' Tom Murphy: Productive before getting hook
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Murphy went 1-for-1 with a double and a walk in Tuesday's loss to the Yankees before being ejected for arguing a strike call in the sixth inning.
The veteran backstop was upset about a check-swing that was called a strike and was tossed for yelling at the first base umpire. Murphy has logged 66 plate appearances across 21 games while ceding the bulk of playing time behind the dish to Cal Raleigh, and Tuesday marked the third time in his last four starts that he'd reached safely.
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Mariners' Tom Murphy: Playing time sparse
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Murphy, who played for the first time since last Friday in Thursday's loss to the Phillies and went 2-for-3 with a double, has logged only 29 plate appearances and appeared in nine of the Mariners' first 25 games.
The veteran is healthy after appearing in just 14 games in 2022 due to a shoulder injury, but he's seen Cal Raleigh draw 20 starts overall, with 19 of those coming behind the dish. That's left few opportunities for Murphy, and his timing at the plate unsurprisingly seems to be suffering. Even factoring in his first multi-hit effort of the season Thursday, Murphy is slashing just .138/.138/.207.
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Mariners' Tom Murphy: Gets start at DH
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Murphy is hitting eighth and serving as the designated hitter for Tuesday's tilt against the Angels.
Murphy has gone hitless in his first six plate appearances of 2023, but he does have a history of success versus left-handed pitchers and gets the starting nod against southpaw Jose Suarez.
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Mariners' Tom Murphy: Returns to lineup Thursday
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Murphy (forearm) is back in the Mariners' lineup for Thursday's Cactus League tilt versus the Reds, Shannon Drayer of Seattle Sports 710 AM reports.
Murphy has had some left forearm tightness this week but is ready to go now. He's in line to serve as Cal Raleigh's backup this season.
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Mariners' Tom Murphy: Forearm issue is minor
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Murphy (forearm) is expected to return to the Mariners' Cactus League lineup Thursday, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports.
Murphy was scratched from the lineup Monday and is not in there Wednesday, but his left forearm tightness has proven to be a minor issue. He should be in the clear to open the 2023 regular season as an active backup to primary Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh.
