6 Tom Murphy, Seattle Mariners, $2.555 million value; $569,000 salary
You were promised surprises, and Murphy is likely the biggest. With the December trade of Omar Narvaez to Milwaukee, the Mariners appear to have made the eminently logical decisions that Murphy is their lead pony behind the plate for 2019.
Murphy arrived in Seattle from Colorado – with a four-day interlude on the Giants roster – in March just before the Mariners took off for their season-opening series against the Athletics in Japan. It’s often hard to get attention when playing for a last-place team in the far reaches of the Northwest, but Murphy’s 2019 numbers speak. His 2.6 WAR amounted to $2.014 million in value, eighth best among catchers swinging sticks.
Defensively, Murphy was perhaps surprisingly good. Again he ranked eighth with 12 runs saved, justifying $459,000 in salary. Note that’s close to what he actually earned in 2019, making nearly 100 percent of his offensive work a bonus.
Murphy also rated 10th in pitch framing at 2 runs saved. Add another $82,000.
In fact only two catchers in baseball rated among the top 10 in 2019 at all three skills – offense, defense and framing – that are considered most central to the catching art. One of them is the player who ranks atop this list; Tom Murphy was the other.