SAN FRANCISCO — Since spraining a ligament in his left knee five weeks into the season, Tom Murphy has mostly been a ghost. He comes to the ballpark each day, puts in his rehab and goes home. He doesn’t travel with the team, and when they are at home, manager Bob Melvin will go days without interacting with or even seeing the veteran backstop signed to be their No. 2 catcher this season.
That’s by design, Murphy explained.
“It’s been tough,” the 33-year-old catcher said Tuesday from his locker inside the home clubhouse. “I try to stay out of people’s way for the most part because I’m not playing. The last thing I want to do is get in the way of the product out there.”
Giving chase to a pitch in the dirt on a soggy May day in Philadelphia, Murphy felt a pop in his left knee and was given an initial diagnosis of a sprained MCL. He wouldn’t need surgery and could be back in six weeks, the team said.
More than four months later, Murphy has still not resumed catching and isn’t expected back before the end of the season. But progress made in the past week gives him more than just hope that he will be physically able to fulfill the second year of two-year, $8 million contract he signed before this season.
“In my mind there’s no could,” he said. “You know, like, none of those questions exist. There’s no question about it.”
The one time Murphy accompanied the team on the road since the injury was in Los Angeles after the All-Star break, making a brief cameo in the visitors’ clubhouse at Dodger Stadium. The primary objective of the trip, though, was to get a second scan on his knee, which revealed the ligament had not healed at all in 10 weeks since the initial injury.
Murphy was able to hit, he was able to throw, he was able to run. But he could not — and still can’t — do the one task essential to his position: squat.
“That’s what really prompted us to get another look at it,” Murphy said.
After his follow-up appointment in Los Angeles, Murphy opted to receive an injection of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) that, in effect, restarted the healing process. He was told it would take another 2-3 months for the PRP to fully repair the ligament and six weeks before he would feel it having an effect.
Right on cue, Murphy ramped up his base running this week, about six weeks since receiving the injection.
“That’s never really been the issue in all this,” Murphy said of running the bases. “It felt like I couldn’t do my job before. Whereas now I can start to be able to do those things.”
While “deep flexion” in his knee — or, in layman’s terms, assuming the squat — remains an issue, the first sign of the PRP going to work makes Murphy optimistic that the rest of the treatment will meet its estimated timeline, too. He expects to be fully recovered when pitchers and catchers report to Arizona in February.
After batting just .118 in 34 at-bats before suffering the injury, he’s confident he’ll make a better impression next year, too.
“My big years have always come after years like this,” said Murphy, who was a .292 hitter with an .879 OPS in his previous two seasons in Seattle after missing all of 2020 with a fractured foot. “I’m sure nobody trusts that. But as long as I trust myself, that’s all I need.”
The Giants sure hope so, given their catching situation after Patrick Bailey, who has also faded at the plate in the second half for the second straight season.
Curt Casali, hastily signed to be his backup after Murphy’s injury, will be a free agent and entering his age-36 season. Blake Sabol, the Rule 5 darling from 2023, has struggled at the plate for Triple-A Sacramento and hasn’t convinced anybody of his ability to handle the position full-time. Jakson Reetz, who has filled in whenever Bailey or Casali is sidelined, was undesirable enough that all 29 other teams let him pass through waivers last month.
Meanwhile, Joey Bart, who was waived about a month prior to Murphy’s injury, earned the starting job in Pittsburgh and run with it, posting an .851 OPS that is better than any catcher in the major leagues with as many at-bats.
No matter what, next year can’t be any worse for Murphy, who has had to attempt to integrate himself among a new set of teammates and coaches in a new city while being physically unable to contribute on the field.
“It’s the worst thing in the world,” he said.
Hayden Birdsong was originally scheduled to start the Giants’ series opener against the Brewers on Tuesday night but was pushed back two days to Thursday’s series finale. The decision, Melvin said, had less to do with the 23-year-old rookie right-hander than it did with Landen Roupp, who hadn’t pitched since his four shutout innings of relief Thursday against the Diamondbacks and was chosen make the start instead.
The Giants have already shut down one rookie starter past his previous career-high in innings in Kyle Harrison, but Melvin said Birdsong wasn’t feeling any fatigue — “Not at all” — with 109⅓ innings between the majors and minors, past his previous career-high of 100⅔ that he logged last year.
LHP Robbie Ray (hamstring) is anticipated to assume his spot in the rotation the next time through if all goes well in a simulated game Wednesday. Ray will throw four innings in what Melvin said the Giants will treat as a rehab start. “We’ll move him around some, make him do some PFP, go through all the rigors he would in a game,” Melvin said, “and then hopefully his next time will be in a game for us.”
RHP Jordan Hicks (shoulder) is also expected to return before the end of the season if all goes well in a rehab outing Tuesday night for Single-A San Jose. He was scheduled to throw 25-30 pitches in his first game action since landing on the IL on Aug. 27 with inflammation in his throwing shoulder.
