Fishtowner Sean Murphy pitches for the Stockton Ports. PHOTO COURTESY OF MURPHY FAMILY
He’s putting Fishtown on the map.
“My dream is playing in the World Series with Fishtown on my back,” said Fishtown native and Minor League Baseball pitcher Sean Murphy, 24, as he prepared to return to Phoenix, Ariz. this week for the new round of pitcher’s spring training mini-camp.
Murphy, now an experienced starting pitcher, will be gearing up for his third season in Minor League Baseball, this year expecting to join the Midland Rockhounds, an AA-team in the Texas League.
It’s the natural progression from Murphy, who was drafted by the Oakland A’s out of Keystone State College in 2010 in the 33rd round of the first-year player draft.
This Philly kid started out pitching for the Arizona Athletics, a team in the Oakland A’s minor-league system. Since then, he’s played for the Stockton Ports in the California League and the Burlington Bees in Iowa for the Midwest League.
At 6 feet, 6 inches and 220 pounds, with a 93-m.p.h. fastball, in the 2012 season he threw 157 innings. He also averaged 6.2 innings per start. That kind of longevity gives a pitcher control of the tempo of a game, he said.
“It’s my competitive nature, just being from Fishtown. I always strived to be the best in whatever I did,” Murphy said.
Murphy, the youngest of a family of three, went to school at St. Laurentius and graduated from the now closed North Catholic High School in 2006.
Growing up, he played baseball at the Fishtown Athletic Club and attended Phillies games with his dad, Raymond.
In one special game, Murphy had the chance to pitch three times against San Francisco Giants slugger Pablo Sandoval. The result of Murphy v.
Sandoval was a victory for Fishtown — one strikeout, one foul out, and one bloop hit.
Being elevated to the major leagues as a pitcher is all about being “ready to go against Major League hitters,” Murphy said. He said he is ready to play at that level — and the ultimate dream would be playing for the Phillies.
But until that happens, he will keep practicing and working out, playing the game he loves, and staying true to his home neighborhood.
“I feel like there’s tons of great athletes around here. It’s just a matter of the will, the passion. They can easily do it if they just set their minds to it,” he said.
Reporter Sam Newhouse can be reached at 215–354–3124 or at [email protected].
