RADIO
CURRENT ADP: 140
RANKINGS STATUS: Undervalued
ANALYSIS: New York Met’s second basemen Daniel Murphy is not your typical fantasy stud. His lack of power numbers triggers a red flag to most fantasy owners who know how valuable a power bat can be in their lineup. Murphy’s other attributes like his constant knack for getting base hits and consistent speed are what make him a useful and undervalued fantasy player.
Murphy is the kind of pure hitter that can you can wake up in the middle of the night and he would get a base hit in his pajamas. He is now a veteran in the league and has become an established hitter with a career batting average of .290. In 2014 Murphy hit .289 with 9 HR, 57 RBI, 79 Runs scored and 13 SB. These numbers are not incredible, but when you take into account how lifeless the Met’s offense was last year the RBI and runs totals are actually fairly impressive. Murphy added 37 doubles and 2 triples to help accumulate a very solid 240 total bases.
A very telling statistic was Murphy’s 31% line drive percentage which was tied for 6th in all of Major League Baseball. That tells you that Murphy is not just getting lucky and dumping soft singles into the outfield but rather hitting the ball right on the nose.
With the addition of Michael Cuddyer, a healthy David Wright, and the promise of some of the Mets young hitters, Murphy’s counting numbers should see an increase in 2015. The right field fence in Citi Field was brought in anywhere from 3 to 11 feet, which can help Murphy hit a few more homers this year. Murphy is also heading in a contract year so he knows this is an important year for him. His current overall rank of 137 has him ranked below players like Elvis Andrus, Mookie Betts, and Ben Revere. Look for Murphy to be a more valuable fantasy contributor than those players.
