Murphy bringing big bat back to Winnipeg

Max Murphy will play for the Winnipeg Goldeyes this summer.

The baseball club announced Thursday the American Association’s 2022 most valuable player will return to the provincial capital for a fourth year in a row.

Murphy was released by Saraperos de Saltillo of the Mexican Baseball League on Tuesday after appearing in just five games. The 31-year-old outfielder spent most of the winter with Mayos de Navojoa of the Mexican Pacific Winter League and stayed for better pay.

Murphy recorded a .150 batting average, three hits, five RBI and three walks in 23 plate appearances this spring.

“I always have a good situation back in Winnipeg,” Murphy told the Free Press by phone Thursday morning from his home in Minnesota. “Yeah, it was nice to make some money but I miss everything I have back in Winnipeg and the American Association.

“I figured it was best for me to have fun back here playing than trying to continue on with a different team down there.”

Earlier this month, the Robbinsdale, Minn., product expressed that he’d welcome the idea of a return to Winnipeg when the Mexican season ended, but even that seemed like a long shot.

Now, it’s a reality, one welcomed by Goldeyes manager Logan Watkins.

Murphy, one of the most prolific run producers in the history of the AA, has been a pillar at the top of the Goldeyes’ order for the last three seasons, registering 359 hits, 70 home runs and 252 RBI while missing just one game.

“He has been one of the premiere players in the league for the last several years and will go down as an all-time Goldeyes great,” Watkins said, in a prepared statement. “He is still in the prime of his career and he turns an already strong lineup into one of the best in the league on paper.”

The Goldeyes start training camp May 1 and begin the AA league’s regular season on May 9 in Cleburne, Tex., against the Railroaders.

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jfreysam