Patrick Murphy, Canton Central Catholic 2015, signed by the Miami Marlins.
Former Ohio State and Marshall lefty pitcher overcomes three surgeries and numerous difficulties to get signed by Miami Marlins out of Frontier League
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Josh Weir - The Repository
The weather was warm and the adrenaline was pumping inside
Patrick Murphy.
The 2015
Canton Central Catholic High School graduate — a lefty relief pitcher readying for his second season with the Tri-City ValleyCats — liked how the baseball was coming out of his hand.
During this May 1 practice session, Murphy faced a real batter for the first time in months. Just him, a catcher and a hitter on the Bruno Stadium field in Troy, N.Y., trying to get ready for a season on the periphery of professional baseball, a place where many big-league dreams try to hold on for dear life, the independent Frontier League.
“Toward the end of practice, my manager came up to me and goes, ‘How hard do you think you were throwing today?’” Murphy recalled. “I just went off what my teammate said, maybe 92 to 94. He was like, ‘Man, you were 94 to 96, and you topped out at 97.’
“I thought he was messing around with me.”
Murphy never threw 97 miles per hour in his life. The last time he was clocked before leaving home for this abbreviated spring training, he was in the 91-93 range.
The manager, former big league slugger Pete Incaviglia, called a scout for the
Miami Marlins. Four days later, just hours after throwing one inning in an exhibition game with the scout watching, Murphy got a call that the Marlins wanted to sign him.
This is no overnight success-type story. It is a case study in perseverance and a stunning development for a kid — now a 25-year-old man — who has endured three surgeries and multiple career crossroads where he considered hanging up his glove and cleats for good.
The hero of
Central Catholic’s 2015 state championship team, Murphy’s moments of glory on the baseball field have been limited since leaving high school.
Getting that call from the Marlins felt pretty glorious.
“I started crying,” Murphy said. “We did a group FaceTime with my family and both my parents started crying, too. It was pretty emotional.”
From Huntington, W.V. to Columbus to
Sam Williams' backyard to an empty net at Diamond Dreams Sports Academy on Southway St., Murphy’s backstory reads like the Hollywood script.
A high school star, Murphy went 9-1 with a 0.90 ERA and 90 strikeouts in 62 innings as a senior at Central.
He threw a one-hit shutout in a state semifinal win against Wheelersburg, then got the final out and the save the next day in a
4-2 win against Cincinnati Summit Country Day, earning the Crusaders the Division III state championship.
Murphy then headed to Marshall University, where a “SLAP” tear in the back of his shoulder prematurely ended a very good freshman season.
About five weeks into his sophomore season, his elbow popped. The dreaded Tommy John surgery was needed and the recovery from that required him to sit out his entire third season as well.
Halfway through his fourth season at Marshall, after all the work to get back from Tommy John, he felt a pop in his shoulder during a game. His heart sank. He had suffered a labrum tear.
Another surgery coming. Another year down the tubes.
“All that was on my mind was I figured I was done playing,” Murphy said. “I thought I threw the last pitch of my career.”
The original MRI did not paint a pretty picture, and Murphy describes the weeks leading up to that third surgery in the spring of 2019 as some of his darkest days.
But the damage was not as bad as previously feared once doctors got into the shoulder and only an arthroscopic procedure was needed, rather than a reconstruction of the labrum.
Murphy was throwing again in six weeks. He transferred to Ohio State for a fresh start.
Five appearances into his Buckeyes career, COVID shut down the 2020 season.
With facilities closed and athletes basically left to fend for themselves, Murphy found a place to work and much-needed encouragement through a local group of young pros.
He began working out with Sam Williams and Glen Richardson, both Jackson products and at the time pitching in the minor league systems of the Padres and Rangers, respectively. Orrville native J.T. Perez also was part of the group, along with soon-to-be draftees
Kyle Nicolas and Dillon Dingler from Jackson.
They went to local parks and ballfields. They threw off a portable mound in Williams’ backyard in Jackson Township.
“Being around them kind of pushed me because I obviously wanted to get where they were at,” Murphy said.
If Murphy’s parents, Joseph and Mary Cay, and his girlfriend, Lauren Beris, were the support he needed off the field, Williams was the support he needed on it.
The two have known each other since they were 9 taking pitching lessons from pro scout Nick Venuto at the J.Babe Stearn Center.
Williams is a fellow lefty who worked through Tommy John surgery in college to get a shot as an undrafted free agent with the Padres organization. He stayed in Murphy’s ear and did allow him to drift away.
“I kept telling Pat, ‘You’re waking up and you’re throwing with us. You’re not just going to quit,’” Williams said. “Everything was there. He was not far off.”
Williams saw how hard Murphy worked.
He saw his intelligence and ability to pick things up quickly.
He saw a four-pitch repertoire — fastball, sinker, slider, cutter — that could play against good hitters.
Despite all the uncertainties with COVID, Murphy returned for a second year at Ohio State and went 3-1 with a 6.57 ERA in 15 appearances out of the bullpen.
He went undrafted last summer and, after some potential free agent signings fell through, again considered walking away from baseball.
His pitching coaches at Ohio State — Dan DeLucia and Brad Goldberg — encouraged him to give independent ball a try, so Murphy did. He threw well for Tri-City in 19 appearances last season, finishing 5-2 with a 3.69 ERA and 28 strikeouts in 31.2 innings.
Williams announced his retirement from baseball last month, coincidentally less than three weeks before Murphy got his break with the Marlins.
Williams basically felt like he had plateaued a bit and that it was time to move on with his life.
He feels Murphy is on a different trajectory.
“I was just like, ‘You’ve got to keep throwing, man, because your stuff is really good,’” Williams said. “I admit to everyone: I made it to Double A, and Pat’s stuff is on another level than mine. He’s super talented. I think finally someone has seen that and maybe — I don’t want to say ignored the injuries — but maybe overlooked them finally and realized he’s had some healthy years and still has a lot to give.”
Murphy is not sure to what to attribute his recent jump in velocity. His offseason work certainly didn’t hurt.
He spent a month in Charlotte training with Williams. He worked with trainer Josh Elleman in Cincinnati, always looking for ways to improve. He threw to catchers at Central’s practices once its season started, and he threw to that empty net at Diamond Dreams.
Fast forward to May 5, Murphy felt the most pressure he’s ever experienced for an exhibition game.
“There was one guy in the stands and it was the Marlins scout,” he said.
He jammed a few batters, struck out one and broke a bat in his one inning of work. He allowed one jam-job single.
Less than four hours later, while pulling into his apartment complex, he got the call that made all the struggles worth it.
Murphy hasn’t been assigned to an affiliate yet. Since he was in the middle of spring training with Tri-City, he’ll work at the Marlins facility in Jupiter, Fla. until they feel he is ready.
Could major league dreams become a reality someday for Murphy?
Williams wouldn’t bet against his friend.
“If he puts it together, sequencing wise and kind of figures it out,” Williams said, “without a doubt I think he has the stuff to play in the bigs someday.”