One of the hardest things that we have to deal with on the minor league side here at Talking Chop is dealing with the lack of reliable information. Scouting the minors is, by its nature, an imperfect science especially when our ability to see the players live is limited. We go to games regularly and of course there is MiLB.tv, but it is not the same as seeing a guy in person. More importantly, not every affiliate even streams its games and so much happens behind the scenes that we never see or hear about when it comes to player development.
Take the case of Tanner Murphy: Tanner will be the first one to tell you that he has had a rough couple of seasons at the plate. You can scout the stat lines for yourselves to verify if you are into that sort of thing. However, what you miss in doing so (and I am as guilty of that as anyone here) are the nuances of that struggle, the improvements he has made, and some of the things that he does extraordinarily well. It is also a reminder that a player’s development is really never done and that players can make big adjustments that can lead to success.
Selected in the 4th round of the 2013 draft, Tanner was considered one of the best hitting catchers in his class and with enticing, if raw, tools behind the plate including a strong arm. He was so highly regarded that even going into A-ball he started getting some prospect ranking love. Tanner was kind enough to not only talk about his journey in pro ball so far, but give us a lot of great insight into what it takes to develop as a catcher and a hitter as well as what he is looking forward to doing in 2017. Also, he shares probably my favorite story ever in terms of how a guy gets drafted by a team. Enjoy!
First, Tanner, tell fans a bit about yourself so that they can get a better sense of who you are and where you came from?
I am a small town country boy. I graduated from a very small high school. I am a big time family guy with a little bit of a southern accent to me. I am very friendly guy and I’m the guy in the clubhouse joking around. Serious when we need to be, but I am a big believer that this game is still a game. It is our job, but it is a game. It is something we need to cherish and be thankful for because God knows there are kids everywhere that would kill to be in the position we are at.
When did you start playing baseball and did you play any other sports? Were you always a catcher growing up?
I did play other sports. I was a basketball player, I played that for two years. I was a football player, I was the quarterback. I was going to try to be a two sport athlete in college with football and I ended up not playing my senior year. That was when I was a little more trim and I could run a little quicker.
As far as being a catcher, I actually wasn’t always one. I was a shortstop (again, when I was a little trimmer and had a little more range back in the day) like most guys were at some point who play pro ball now. One game my sophomore year on our traveling team, our catcher broke his thumb and we had nobody to go back there. So, I went back there and the first guy to try to steal, I threw him out. That adrenaline rush when he took off, it sort of opened a whole new vision for me as far as catching goes. That plus being involved in every play, controlling the game, and I feel like a lot of that rolls over from me being a quarterback. That was the same sort of feeling, because in the future I want to be a leader on the field. I want to be that guy that everyone can lean on, look forward to, and put the pressure on.
Take us to draft night. You were drafted in the 4th round by the Braves in 2013. When during the draft process did you know that the Braves were interested in you? Describe what it was like when you were drafted.
My scout was named Terry Tripp for the Braves. I remember we were playing a school that was smaller than us believe it or not. I think I had 12-13 scouts at that one game and we had more scouts there than fans which was true of most of our home games. I am not joking. Terry was in that group and I ended up having an ok game, but just not what I should have against a school that size of a team and with the pitcher we were facing. Well Terry came over kind of joking with me saying, “Alright, I will see you tomorrow.” There for about a week, he came to every single game. We had about two weeks left of high school baseball and Terry came to a game with a couple other scouts. I was up to bat and in my first at-bat I walked and in my second at-bat I was intentionally walked. We were in the last inning basically and I knew Terry and those guys were there and I needed to hit for them. The pitcher throws a fastball inside and hits me in the elbow. I backed out of the box like it hit me in the handle. The umpire is telling me to take my base and I’m telling him “No, it hit the handle”. The ump said “No, it hit you in the elbow” and I said “No sir, it hit the handle of the bat. I need to hit.” He said okay, and on the next pitch I hit a home run. I get done with the game and Terry said, “You’re gonna be an Atlanta Brave. I have never seen a kid do that before. I am going to make it happen.”
I went to Atlanta, did the whole pre-draft workout thing, met all of those guys...a lot of the same guys who are still in the front office today. There was just something different about all of the front office guys there. There was something about being there with those guys that fit. I noticed I was a lot more loose in front of those guys and I just felt like I fit a lot better.
So draft day comes and Terry calls me in the third round and lets me know that “Hey, we are going to draft you in the 4th round if you want it.” I’m not going to lie, I got extremely emotional...that is a big thing. That is all that I ever wanted in my life since I was young. Finally, getting that call was….I’ve always called in the second best feeling in your life, the first one is going to be your call to the big leagues.
Did you put much thought into attending college and playing ball there as opposed to going pro? What went into that decision?
I told a lot of scouts this and they all asked the same question, “What is it going to take to sign you?” First off, from me being from such a small town and such a lack of guys being drafted out of my area that I personally know and could just call up and ask questions to, I didn’t know what to say. I have heard don’t shoot too high but don’t cut yourself short because you have to live off your signing bonus in the minor leagues. Everybody knows that because as you know, the pay is nothing. I had a lot of questions, I didn’t know who to talk to and there were two guys. Gary Blalock Sr. who was a pitcher in the Royals organization and Mark Littell, the inventor of the Nutty Buddy. He and my dad are close friends. After talking with those two very closely because they were both big leaguers back in the day, Mr. Blalock has a World Series ring, so they are both very knowledgeable. So back to what I was saying, I just told scouts “Just sign me. Gimme a shot.” Honestly, that is how I saw it...I just wanted to play.
We joked around in summer ball about being drafted and going to college and seeing where it goes, but the closer it got I started to see how real my opportunity was and it gave me anxiety. I had acid reflux because I was so anxious I guess you could say. My first day in pro ball, I couldn’t even play for the first three or four days I was in the hospital because of the reflux. Basically, if given the chance for pro ball, there was going to be no second thought in my head.
Catcher is a position that is notoriously difficult to learn and even harder to excel at. Coming out of high school, what aspects of being a professional catcher were the toughest parts to learn and what specifically did you do to hone your craft behind the plate?
I will tell you now, the hardest part that I had to adjust to in terms of catching was calling a game. Obviously, in high school, our coach called the game. Going into that first year, I was told I had really quick feet, you need to make a few little adjustments here and there, but we need to work on game calling. Now, when someone tells me “this is what we need to work on”, that’s what I focus on. You better believe that is what I am bustin’ at to get it down. I want to be elite when it comes to that. Learning to call a game, for me, was the trickier part because again, in high school, you look over at your coach, he tells you what to throw, that’s it...throw it down, get set up.
My main thing is getting my pitcher through his game and doing everything I possibly can. Well, when I first got down to pro ball, it was the same thing. I would just throw my fingers down without any meaning behind them and not asking “Why are you calling this pitch?” Every pitch a pitcher throws is for a reason, whether it be a setup pitch or a strikeout pitcher or whatever. I had to learn that and at the time Joe Breeden was our catching coordinator. He was so good about drilling into my head to have a reason and that when a hitter reacts to a pitch, you should know what the hitter did, how he reacted to that pitch, and what you should be throwing next. I would watch games and sort of guess as the game went on “What would I throw here?” and if he ended up throwing it, I would start to get an idea of why you throw certain pitches. That wasn’t even practice on the field, just me watching TV.
You can sit there and throw pitches down all you want, but if you don’t have a reason for it and you are just throwing fingers down, you are not really helping anybody out. If you have a pitcher who is throwing his fastball 92 mph and you throw a first pitch fastball and this right-handed batter rips one foul and pulls it way down the line, you know he is early on the fastball so you probably need to go offspeed. In the old days, they would say “Oh, he didn’t hit that fair or solid”. Now, I recognize it and think that he cheated on that so lets slow his bat down. That is what it comes down to, keeping that hitter off balance so he can’t put a decent swing on the ball. That is one of my bigger things about taking care of my pitchers, especially younger pitchers, because sometimes they don’t put that much thought to that and I don’t want them to. I want the pitcher to see that it is me and him. I’m catching him and “whatever Murph throws down, I am 100% confident throwing it”. Its funny, I sometimes based shakes (or getting shaken off). If we win a game and I only got shaken off 0 or 1 time, I am cheesing...I am beyond happy because I know that my pitchers have that much confidence in me and we got a W out of it.
What is an area as a catcher defensively that you feel like you excel at and what area do you feel like you have the most room to improve?
I would say, and this is based on what I did last year, it would be my accuracy to second base. Right now, blocking is a huge thing for me and I am very comfortable in keeping balls in front me. Wearing it on the wrist, taking it off the forearm, whatever I have to do to keep it in front of me. For some reason, and maybe it was because I was trying a little harder, I was overthrowing it this year. Back in Rome, I had a fantastic year. I can’t remember what the number was, but I think I threw out the third most guys in baseball. My catching coordinator and I looked to see what I was doing and a lot of it was me arching my back and try to over-do it. I’ve been working on that for the last month or so. I didn’t want to rev it up too much because we get plenty of time once we get down there to do all of that, but it is one of those things where I want to be 100% ready to go when we get to spring training. So yeah, right now I would say accuracy and getting my throws on line. Now, this is my personal opinion, but I feel like some of these defensive things fluctuate. This past season it was my accuracy, but the season before I would have told you it was receiving balls to my glove hand side. Making it look softer and sticking it a little better for the umpire to present a better strike. I sort of feel like you work on one thing, you get it down pat, and then it is something else. That sets us apart from big leaguers because they are ready to go, that is why they are there. It is one of those things I have to work on and I need to get back to how I was throwing it at Rome.
In terms of managing a pitching staff, what do you feel like is the most important thing you can do as a catcher to help make your pitchers successful?
Well, I have always been a guy that catching comes first including being there for my pitcher, getting them through the games, and making sure I call a good game, keep runners off second base, keeping balls in front of me...that is my number one, getting that guy on the mound through the game. You can ask every pitcher because I am out there for them. Throwing out runners and stuff like that comes second for me. When you have a pitcher out there that is 100% confident in who they are throwing to, it is crazy what their numbers will do. They don’t worry about “Is he going to block this ball?”, “Is he going to stick this pitch for me if I paint it at the knees?”, “Is he gonna just give up on it and there’s ball 2?”. Catching is a passion for me because there is so much more to it than people see. It’s always been more important to me to just make sure those guys are comfortable.
You made a change to your stance in the second half in 2016. What was the thinking behind the need for the change, what was the change, and how helpful do you think the change was?
Well going into the second half this year, I completely changed my stance. I went from being extremely wide with no movement to standing directly straight up and moving as much as I can. Kind of like a Joey Meneses. I am not joking...the day before the All-Star break, I went into the coaches’ office and they said “Let’s make a drastic adjustment. We want you to stand upright, move as much as you can” and that night I went 2-2 with two walks. Then the first game back from the break, I hit a home run. That made it a lot easier to believe in that big adjustment I was making. Going into this offseason, I focused on really working on it and getting that new swing and stance more consistent.
In high school, I was really spread out and it was almost like Pujols because I had my hands in close and I was better at hitting fastballs than offspeed because most people are. However, I just was not consistent and my numbers show that. That is not a secret and it was so frustrating having success at a smaller high school (I graduated with like 40-50 people) and then going into pro ball….it puts a damper on ya. Words can describe how excited I am because I can just feel and tell the difference with how more free my hands are. In the second half alone, I cut way back on my strikeouts. My walks went up, I saw the ball better, and I wasn’t rushing to swing at everything. A lot of guys up there that were throwing mid-90s that I was really rushing in the first half I saw so much better. I was laying off all of their pitches out of the zone, seeing the ball so much deeper.
I have shown the new swing to a few coordinators and guys that I am close with and talk to in the offseason and they said it is the best I have looked coming into spring training. I agree, because it is the best I have felt. Thanks God you have coaches and coordinators to help make adjustments like that. It is a huge adjustment to make in one day...I wouldn’t have done it on my own. You don’t want to screw anything up, but then again...it’s broke so you better fix it. It is going really well and I am just really looking forward to Spring Training.
What was the biggest difference for you between playing at low-A vs. high-A?
As far as catching goes, I don’t see that much of a jump. With calling a game, once you get that down you are good. You can always learn every day which you should be because it is baseball. You are going to learn something new every day. I know how comfortable I am calling a game to date and handling a pitching staff and there wasn’t that much of a jump there, because I had already settled in and I have that confidence back there.
As far as hitting goes, the jump I saw was that pitchers are obviously a little bit more consistent. Their offspeeds are a little better, but thing I personally saw was that the guys were able to throw their offspeeds for strikes a little bit more. In low-A, a lot of those guys can’t throw their offspeeds for strikes so why even swing. You can be a dead red fastball hitter. You move up a little bit and they can throw their changeups and their slider for strikes and you can’t take those, because then you are getting yourself in a hole. That is one of the things I saw.
One other thing that was a jump for me hitting was, and this was a mental thing, was to stop taking my catching to the plate. What I mean by that is that I have told you I feel 100% confident when it comes to calling a game, but sometimes I will catch myself when I am hitting and in certain situations I would say “What would I call in this situation? Guy’s on second base, I pulled this pitch down the line, etc”. Sometimes I think like a catcher too much...I’m not separating them. I have to be careful to not bring my catching mentality to my hitting. That was another thing along with my stance and having movement constantly. I just need to be a hitter, just see the ball and hit the ball. They say that the hardest thing to do is take a round ball and a round bat and hit it. There is no reason trying to complicate that and trying to figure out a formula in the middle of an at-bat because it wasn’t working. It is just see the ball, hit the ball. It is obviously a lot easier said than done but that was more my mindset in the second half. It was just cut the crap and see the ball, hit the ball. Stop thinking so much. As I get more and more comfortable calling games and handling pitching staffs, I think I was just taking my catching mentality into my hitting and in the second half I said I was done with that. I said I am going to be a hitter. Stop guessing at pitches, see the fastball, and react. Stop all this other nonsense. It worked to my advantage and that is just something I am going to need to be very consistent with and take it into this next season wherever I may be.
Going into 2017, what have you been working on this offseason and what is one thing going into the season that you are focused on?
I have definitely been focused the most on my hitting. That is not to say that catching has been any less because I still do my same catching drills. Shae Simmons, who is now with Seattle, lives in the same area as me. He lives here now and I have been catching his bullpens. With him being out last year, it did hurt a little bit because I didn’t have any guys to catch. I get to catch him and Trenton Moses who used to be with the Braves is working with me, too. He is feeding me balls while I am catching so I can do all of my blocking drills.
By far though, my hitting has been what I have been focusing on the most. I have just been trying to get very consistent with this new batting stance, feeling more free and loose. I want to look like I know what I am doing when I am at the plate. Obviously my numbers have been in the grey area...I know that, everyone else knows that. I have to go into this year and do exactly what I did in the second half of last year or even better. Thirty points higher and I’ll hit .300, who knows? I’d take that *laughs* It is just being more consistent with this new stance, but other than that I have a notebook where I write stuff down about how I feel in certain spots and when I feel like I am in a good rhythm and I have been feeling that. I am going to show up in spring in better shape than I was last year, not that I was in bad shape last year, but I had a plan this year to get a little stronger than I was last year. I am there now, I am a little thicker and stronger this year although I am the same weight. I am looking forward to it and spring training is right around the corner. It is time to put in on and get going.