Good news from UB’s alumni in professional baseball today, as Tom Murphy, who’s had an absolutely torrid summer in Albuquerque after a slow start to the season, has been called up to the Colorado Rockies.
Murphy is hitting .326 in 80 games on the year with 19 homers and 52 total extra base hits, good for an OPS over 1.008.
The September call up doesn’t necessarily mean there’s space for Murphy, as Nick Hundley and Tony Wolters are both still on the big-league roster, but the UB alum was already on the Rockies’ 40-man roster and has a few weeks’ experience in the bigs from last year, hitting .257 with 3 homers in 11 games in 2015.
Colorado's SB Nation blog, Purple Row, expected Murphy's call up shortly after the start of September, and looks to have more on the catcher before the end of the weekend:
Six potential Rockies September call-ups - Purple Row
The 25-year-old catcher has laid wasted to the PCL this season, hitting .327/.361/.647 with 19 homers in 322 plate appearances for Triple-A Albuquerque. The absence of Murphy -- on whom we'll have more later today or tomorrow -- from the big league roster this season has been a bit confounding, especially because he performed well in limited duty in 2015. But he's likely to be one of the Rockies' first September additions -- perhaps as soon as today.
Murphy was named MAC Player of the Year while playing for Buffalo in 2011.