Murphy keeps right on hitting for Isotopes

With stints in the Majors the past three seasons, Tom Murphy knows how he must perform to become an everyday catcher in the big leagues.
"Really, it boils down to consistency," Colorado's No. 11 prospect said. "So I'm going to put that on myself and do everything I can to do that." 
Despite the small sample size, Murphy has been consistently good through the first four games of 2018 with Triple-A Albuquerque. The catcher has turned in three three-hit performances, going 3-for-4 with his second homer of the season in Sunday's 11-4 win over Salt Lake.

Gameday box score
Leading off the second inning, Murphy worked the count in his favor against Bees starter Alex Klonowski. The 27-year-old then belted a 2-1 hanging slider to left field to get the Isotopes on the scoreboard.
That was just the beginning for the 2012 third-round pick. After being plunked in the third, Murphy legged out an infield single in the fifth before coming around to score on Jan Vázquez's sacrifice fly. In the eighth, he drove in Jordan Patterson with a double to deep center. Murphy scored for the third time in the game on a sacrifice fly by Derrik Gibson and admits he feels locked in at the plate in the fledgling season.

"It's hard to argue against that, that's for sure," he said. "Hopefully I go throughout the season without giving up an at-bat. I know the downslide will happen at some point. It happens to everybody. But I feel like the less at-bats you can give away, the better off you're going to be throughout the season. It starts with Game 1."
The SUNY Buffalo product believes keeping on top of the mental aspect of the game and coming in with a consistent approach -- such as being aggressive at the dish -- can help avoid prolonged slumps and it's something the whole team has bought into.
"Even a game like today, it can kind of be a trap game, come the eighth, ninth inning," Murphy said. "You don't have that same focus that you do in the first inning. But constant self-reminders and even team reminders that every at-bat counts, that we're going to go out there and focus every time like it's a 0-0 ballgame, it goes a long ways."

Anthony Phillips also provided firepower for Albuquerque with a three-run homer in the fifth and the Isotopes have scored 29 runs over the past three games.
"We're kind of controlling the at-bats, instead of the pitcher controlling the at-bats against us," said Murphy, who considers himself his harshest critic. "It's a blast. It really becomes a team atmosphere. To have that so early on in the season, it just brings everybody closer."
The West Monroe, New York native is 10-for-16 with two walks to start the season. He has appeared in 44 Major League contests, hitting .214 with eight homers in 102 at-bats, and that's given him a lot of confidence about his game playing at the highest level..
"You'll literally do anything you can to play at the highest level," Murphy said. "Whether you're there or not is irrespective of your mind-set. You're going to go out there and make sure you do everything you can to be the best baseball player you can."
Angels No. 10 prospectMichael Hermosillo collected three hits and one RBI for the Bees.