Tom Murphy
Similar to Haniger, Tom Murphy will be a welcome sight in 2021 as he is a much better hitter against left-handed pitching than right and the Mariners were the worst hitting team against left-handed pitching last season.
Tom Murphy was a forgotten man last season due to Austin Nola’s success, but now that Nola is in San Diego Murphy will platoon with Luis Torrens according to Scott Servais. Murphy missed all of last season due to a broken foot that he suffered during Summer Camp but Servais said that Murphy will be ready for spring training.
In his first season with the Mariners, 2019, Murphy had a batting line of .273/.324/.535 adding up to an .858 OPS. He had 18 home runs in just 281 plate appearances and his power was unusual compared to his prior years with the Colorado Rockies.
The Mariners will hope that Murphy’s power in 2019 was not a fluke and will carry over into 2021, and they will also hope that Tom has worked on his hitting vs right-handed pitching as he had an OPS of .653 vs righties in 2019.
If Murphy can keep up his great hitting vs lefties and hit better vs righties while keeping the same power from 2019, he will be one of the best offensive catchers in the MLB.