Owen Jameson Murphy (born September 27, 2003) is an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Moder ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

in the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

organization.

Amateur career

Murphy began baseball-related activities at the age of four, when his father Mike signed him up for a class offered by the Riverside Recreation Department. Mike Murphy became his son's coach in Little League and travel league baseball when Owen was seven. When he was 13, Murphy began the Rake City baseball training program. Murphy attended

Riverside Brookfield High School Riverside Brookfield High School (RBHS) is a secondary school located directly between Riverside, Illinois, and Brookfield, Illinois, which educates grades 9-12. It serves the towns of Riverside, North Riverside, most of Brookfield, a small ...

. He played high school

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

as a pitcher and shortstop, and was also a

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

and

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

for the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team. During his junior season in 2021, he pitched to a 6–1 record and a 0.33 ERA alongside hitting nine home runs. As a senior in 2022, he went 9–0 with a 0.12 ERA, surrendering ten hits while striking out 137 batters over innings and was named the Illinois Gatorade Player of the Year. He committed to play

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

Professional career

The

selected Murphy in the first round with the 20th overall selection of the

2022 Major League Baseball draft The 2022 Major League Baseball draft took place on July 17–19, 2022, in Los Angeles. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The draft order was based on the reverse order of the 2021 MLB season standin ...

. He signed with the team for $2.56 million. Murphy made his professional debut with the

Florida Complex League Braves The Florida Complex League Braves are an American baseball team. They are the Rookie-level affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, competing in the Florida Complex League of Minor League Baseball. Prior to 2021, the team was known as the Gulf Coast Lea ...

and he also played with the

Augusta GreenJackets The Augusta GreenJackets are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League and the Single-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They play their home games at SRP Park in North Augusta, South Carolina. History Augusta was a member of the S ...

. Over 12 innings, he gave up six earned runs. To open the 2023 season, he returned to Augusta and was promoted to the

Rome Braves The Rome Emperors are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They are located in Rome, Georgia, and play their home games at AdventHealth Stadium. From 2003 to 2023, the team wa ...

in August. Over 21 starts between the two teams, Murphy went 6-4 with a 4.72 ERA and 113 strikeouts over innings. Murphy began the 2024 campaign with the High–A

Rome Emperors The Rome Emperors are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They are located in Rome, Georgia, and play their home games at AdventHealth Stadium. From 2003 to 2023, the team wa ...

, compiling a 4–2 record and 1.54 ERA with 60 strikeouts across 7 starts. On May 29, 2024, it was announced that Murphy would require

Tommy John surgery Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction, sometimes referred to as Tommy John surgery is a surgical graft procedure where the ulnar collateral ligament in the medial elbow is replaced with either a tendon from elsewhere in the patient's body, ...

, ending his season.

References

External links

2003 births Living people Augusta GreenJackets players Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Cook County, Illinois Florida Complex League Braves players People from Brookfield, Illinois Rome Braves players Rome Emperors players 21st-century American sportsmen {{US-baseball-pitcher-stub