Major League Baseball

Hands-down the best piece on Murphy I've read.

"More than 1,600 miles away — not quite close enough for her son to reach with one swing of the bat — Kelly Murphy is a proud mama.

"His confidence is the top it’s ever been," she said from Murphy’s Automotive repair shop in West Monroe. "He’s changed his stance and is attacking the ball. Did you see (his 482-foot home run)? And he’s worked very hard on his defense as well.""

#TampaBay RT "#Rays The #Rays have recalled RHP Steve Geltz from Triple-A @DurhamBulls.…" #SportsRoadhouse pic.twitter.com/BKZNMx2jIB — TampaBaySRH (@TampaBaySRH) June 17, 2016

Steve Geltz finally forced the Rays hand as he had yet another poor performance during the game, yielding yet another home run, his 7th of the season and 5th over his last seven appearances. He was optioned to Triple-A Durham.

From the small town in New York near Niagara Falls where he grew up and played high school ball, to the University of Buffalo squad that drew few fans and fewer scouts, to the dozens of northeast-based travel ball teams he joined along the way, he tossed in relative anonymity. The latest reminder was the June 2008 draft in which 1,504 names were called and his was not.

Murphy made his big-league debut on Sept. 12, at age 24. According to Baseball-Reference.com, he became the 18,635th player in major-league history. Murphy, however, has a chance to be much more than another forgotten catcher. That's the consensus of those who've gotten to know Murphy, including Colorado reliever Adam Ottavino. Though he missed most of last season with an elbow injury, Ottavino took time out to tutor Murphy, teaching him some of the finer points of catching, including what pitches to call against major-league hitters.

According to D-Ray's bay With McGee gone, Geltz has to be seen as a top candidate for setup duties. Should he earn the role, the Rays will benefit from having him under control through 2020 and only being arbitration eligible for the first time in 2018.

Great story on Geltz who is playing well for Tampa Bay. It seems nobody was scouting Buffalo before Geltz. UB had two very late round picks from 1999-2007. After Geltz UB has had seven guys drafted including a 2nd and 14th rounder.

Geltz pitched the ninth inning against Team USA. He struck out the side on what he remembers to be only 10 pitches.

"It was all fastballs. I was hitting 96 (mph), all this crazy-good stuff," Geltz said.

After the game, Geltz was approached by Angels scout Greg Morhardt, the same scout who signed Mike Trout. Morhardt had no idea who Geltz was or where he came from.

"I’m from upstate New York," Geltz told him. "I go to Buffalo."

"That’s why we don’t know about you," Morhardt said. "Nobody scouts Buffalo."

Morhardt offered Geltz a contract, and Geltz signed.

yay!