Sean Murphy

Sean Murphy

32-Year-Old CatcherC
Atlanta Braves
2026 Stats
AVG
.182
HR
3
RBI
10
R
11
SB
0
Rest-of-Season Projections
AVG
HR
RBI
R
SB
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2026 Fantasy Outlook
After posting a disappointing .636 OPS in just 74 games during 2024, Murphy bounced back early in 2025 with an .822 OPS through the end of May. He struggled to a .631 OPS the rest of the season, however, and finished the campaign in a 4-for-59 slump before being shut down in early September due to a labral tear in his right hip, which he's apparently dealt with throughout the past three years. An expected recovery timeline of four months should allow Murphy to be healthy for the start of 2026, but his availability certainly isn't guaranteed coming off major surgery. Drake Baldwin burst onto the scene to win NL Rookie of the Year in 2025, which should give him a slight edge for the No. 1 catching job, assuming both players are healthy. Murphy should still receive at least semi-regular starts between catcher and designated hitter, though the signing of Mike Yastrzemski should allow Jurickson Profar to see more run at DH. Murphy is only two years removed from posting an .843 OPS during his first year in Atlanta, but his sub-.200 average the last two seasons and the emergence of Baldwin could result in more of a lesser role in 2026. Read Past Outlooks
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RANKS
Rest of Season
From Preseason
#382
ADP
League Majors
Bats R
Throws R
40 Man Yes
Height 6'3"
Weight 228
DOB 10/4/1994
Born Peekskill, NY
College Wright State
Drafted 3rd Rd 2016 OAK
Signed a six-year, $73 million contract extension with Atlanta in December of 2022. Contract includes $15 million team option for 2029.
Scratched from lineup
CAtlanta Braves
October 6, 2026
Murphy was scratched from the lineup for Tuesday's NLDS Game 3 against the Dodgers, Mark Bowman of MLB.com reports.
Analysis
Murphy had been slated to start at designated hitter, but Atlanta has opted to shift Ronald Acuna to DH as he deals with some knee soreness. Lane Thomas will enter the lineup and play right field in Murphy's place.
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Batting Stats
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Batting Order Slot Breakdown
vs Right-Handed Pitchers
vs RHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
2
4
2
12
vs Left-Handed Pitchers
vs LHP
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
3
6
4
Left/Right Batting Splits
Since 2024
 
 
+7%
OPS vs LHP
2026
 
 
+70%
OPS vs RHP
2025
 
 
+22%
OPS vs LHP
2024
 
 
+4%
OPS vs LHP
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2024vs Left .686 220 21 12 30 0 .174 .286 .400
Since 2024vs Right .643 502 43 17 50 0 .203 .287 .356
2026vs Left .370 34 2 1 2 0 .097 .176 .194
2026vs Right .629 87 9 2 8 0 .215 .287 .342
2025vs Left .805 116 13 7 19 0 .198 .336 .469
2025vs Right .660 221 21 9 26 0 .200 .281 .379
2024vs Left .654 70 6 4 9 0 .175 .257 .397
2024vs Right .629 194 13 6 16 0 .200 .294 .335
More Splits→ View More Split Stats
Minor League Splits→ View Minor League Split Stats
Home/Away Batting Splits
Since 2024
 
 
+6%
OPS on Road
2026
 
 
+99%
OPS at Home
2025
 
 
+27%
OPS on Road
2024
 
 
+14%
OPS on Road
OPS PA R HR RBI SB AVG OBP SLG
Since 2024Home .635 351 30 13 35 0 .200 .279 .356
Since 2024Away .676 371 34 16 45 0 .188 .294 .382
2026Home .761 56 6 2 3 0 .240 .321 .440
2026Away .383 65 5 1 7 0 .133 .200 .183
2025Home .624 165 15 7 21 0 .189 .273 .351
2025Away .794 172 19 9 24 0 .210 .326 .469
2024Home .594 130 9 4 11 0 .197 .269 .325
2024Away .678 134 10 6 14 0 .190 .299 .379
More Splits→ View More Split Stats
Stat Review
How does Sean Murphy compare to other hitters?
This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.
  • BB/K
    Walk to strikeout ratio
  • BB Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
  • K Rate
    The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
  • BABIP
    Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
  • ISO
    Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
  • AVG
    Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
  • OBP
    On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
  • SLG
    Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
  • OPS
    On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
  • wOBA
    Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
  • Exit Velocity
    The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
  • Hard Hit Rate
    A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
  • Barrels/PA
    The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
  • Expected BA
    Expected Batting Average.
  • Expected SLG
    Expected Slugging Percentage.
  • Sprint Speed
    The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
  • Ground Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
  • Line Drive %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
  • Fly Ball %
    The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.
BB/K
0.30
 
BB Rate
9.1%
 
K Rate
30.6%
 
BABIP
.243
 
ISO
.118
 
AVG
.182
 
OBP
.256
 
SLG
.300
 
OPS
.556
 
wOBA
.252
 
Exit Velocity
80.3 mph
 
Hard Hit Rate
33.3%
 
Barrels/PA
0.0%
 
Expected BA
.140
 
Expected SLG
.160
 
Sprint Speed
23.1 ft/sec
 
Ground Ball %
56.2%
 
Line Drive %
15.1%
 
Fly Ball %
28.8%
 
Prospect Rankings History
View Complete Sean Murphy Prospect Ranking History
Advanced Batting Stats
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Additional Stats
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Defensive Stats
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Batted Ball Stats
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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers
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Past Fantasy Outlooks
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
Murphy strained his oblique on Opening Day last season and wound up missing more than eight weeks of action. It turned out to be a harbinger of doom, as the 30-year-old suffered through his worst season with a lowly .636 OPS and sub-.200 batting average. Dating back to the 2023 All-Star break, Murphy is slashing just .181/.294/.323 across 432 plate appearances. He also has a 37 percent hard-hit rate over that stretch, which is down significantly from his career 42.4 percent mark. A spike in his ground ball rate (53.9 percent) also conspired to hold Murphy back in 2024. He's young enough and talented enough to return to being a starting-caliber fantasy catcher in 2025, and Murphy's playing time outlook went up after Atlanta declined Travis d'Arnaud's option and he wound up signing with the Angels.
When Atlanta acquired Murphy, it was coming off a season where he had collected 611 plate appearances for the Athletics. While it was anticipated Murphy wouldn't repeat that with Travis d'Arnaud in the mix, most expected Murphy would gather more than the 438 plate appearances he recorded. Confusing matters more is Murphy's 129 wRC+ was the highest of all catchers with at least as many plate appearances, and Murphy's defense was outstanding. Meanwhile, when healthy, d'Arnaud's offense and defense both displayed signs of decline. Perhaps the extra rest helped Murphy, as he posted career highs in average exit velocity, hard-hit rate and barrel percent. Even so, it's curious why Murphy didn't play more. Both backstops will be back with Atlanta this season, so it must be assumed Murphy will continue to lose playing time to his veteran counterpart. However, at some point, Atlanta should realize Murphy is the better option. Paying for more playing time is defensible, just don't take the leap to 2022 levels.
Murphy came into the season known more for his glove work than his bat, yet finished the season as the fifth-best fantasy backstop behind only Realmuto, Varsho, Smith, and Perez. Murphy pulled a Perez-like workload in plate appearances with 612 plate appearances, but Oakland used him at DH 30 times to reduce the wear and tear on his knees. He rewarded them by reducing his strikeout rate and setting career bests in every possible category, even with his first career steal! Murphy could see a decrease in plate appearances following a trade to Atlanta, but it could be a net positive given the lineup upgrade. It has already been reported that Murphy and Travis d'Arnaud will each see time at designated hitter when the other is catching.
While Murphy continued to establish himself as one of the game's top defensive backstops, the 27-year-old endured his fair share of offensive struggles last season. He slashed .216/.306./405 with 17 homers while striking out at a 25.4% clip. Instead of seeing some positive regression from his .278 BABIP in 2020, Murphy saw his average on balls in play drop even further to .257 in 2021. Now is not the time to be overly pessimistic about Murphy's offensive potential going forward, however, especially considering that 2021 was his first full 162-game big-league season. If he can cut down on his strikeouts and have better luck when he does put the ball in play, he may be able to improve across the board offensively in 2022. At the very least, fantasy owners can be confident that his elite defense will keep him among the league leaders in games started behind the plate.
Murphy's 2020 Statcast page paints a confusing picture. His average exit velocity and hard-hit rate were 91st percentile while he toted an 83rd percentile barrel rate. Yet, his expected batting average was a paltry .211, in part due to a 26.4 K% as well as a home park that suppresses hits. It bodes well how hard Murphy stings the ball when he happens to hit it. A 17.4 BB% is also encouraging. Murphy's power metrics are promising as he posted a 22.6% HR/FB and 39.6% flyball rate last season. Don't be fooled by last season's .233 average. With fewer strikeouts and a BABIP more reflective of his batted-ball profile, Murphy has breakthrough potential. All this on top of excellent glove work, a strong arm and improving pitch framing mean he's sure to see bountiful playing time. The floor is shaky, but the ceiling is enticing.
It's hard to start a career much hotter than Murphy did. After missing most of the early part of the season with knee issues, he made his first career start in early September and went on to hit .414 with four homers in his first nine games of the month. He came down to earth after that, grabbing just one hit in 10 games over the rest of the month, but it was enough to make him the starting catcher heading into the playoffs. He will hold onto that job this season and should be a viable option in most formats. The 25-year-old hit .288/.369/.521 across his last two seasons in the minors, and scouts project him to hit for plus power with an average or better hit tool. His defense has a chance to be excellent, so he could rank near the top of the position in games played, with the one big caveat that he has missed significant time with injuries in each of the last two seasons.
Murphy spent the bulk of the 2018 season with Double-A Midland, posting a strong .288/.358/.498 line with eight homers in 68 games. Those numbers represented significant growth from his 53-game stint at the same level the season prior, when he hit just .209/.288/.309. The young backstop did miss a month and a half late in the season after undergoing wrist surgery, but he returned to play eight games at the end of the year, including his first three at the Triple-A level. That's probably the level at which he'll spend the bulk of this year, though he'll have a chance for at least some MLB at-bats, especially given the Athletics' lack of established options at his position. Scouting reports project Murphy as a fairly good defender, which should help him get playing time. He doesn't project for much more than average power or contact.
More Fantasy News
Exiting starting lineup
CAtlanta Braves
October 1, 2026
Murphy is not in the lineup Thursday for Game 3 of the NL Wild Card Series against the Phillies.
Analysis
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Not starting Game 1
CAtlanta Braves
September 29, 2026
Murphy is not in the lineup Tuesday for Game 1 of the National League Wild Card series against the Phillies.
Analysis
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Out of Sunday's lineup
CAtlanta Braves
September 13, 2026
Murphy is not in the lineup for Sunday's game against the Phillies, Lindsay Crosby of BravesToday.com reports.
Analysis
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Out of Thursday's lineup
CAtlanta Braves
September 10, 2026
Murphy is not in the lineup for Thursday's contest against the Rays.
Analysis
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Taking seat Monday
CAtlanta Braves
September 7, 2026
Murphy is not in the lineup for Monday's game in Philadelphia.
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Latest Fantasy Rumors
Available via trade?
CAtlanta Braves
November 24, 2025
Murphy could be available via trade during the offseason, according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.
Analysis
Atlanta has its catcher of the future in Drake Baldwin, who won the 2025 NL Rookie of the Year award, so Murphy could be available for the right package. He underwent surgery for a hip injury in September, but the expectation is that he'll be ready for the start of the 2026 regular season. Murphy is signed for three more years and $45 million.
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