Murdoch named Top Hitter in SPBL South Division
Swift Current’s Ethan Murdoch was rewarded for a fine season at the plate when he was named the Saskatchewan Premier 18U AAA Baseball League South Division Top Hitter.
“It’s really cool. We were just in Regina last weekend and there are lots of guys on those teams that are really good players, a couple guys from the White Sox that are really good players, that had good years too. It’s nice to be considered, to know that people see the work you put in and have you up there with the best of the best in the league. It feels really good to be recognized for that, just to know that my name was the top of people’s minds, just knowing that there are so many talented players in our league,” said Murdoch.
The second-year catcher was second in the 13-team league with a .457 average as the Swift Current 57’s finished with a 5-8 record.
“I like to be pretty aggressive up there. As I’ve gotten older I have learned how to work the count a bit more, but I’ve always been someone who likes to take what you’re given early on. I think that’s a really overlooked approach is just going after it early in the count. I like to get hits on the first pitch. I find that usually what you get at the start of the count is usually the best pitch that you’re going to get to see. I like to attack a fastball early in the count. But if it ends up getting later in the count, two strikes, I just put the ball in play and that works pretty well. I just usually try to hit the ball hard… I just try hit the ball hard, get it in play, and make something happen.”
Murdoch was also second in the league with a 1.363 OPS and a .743 slugging percentage. He finished the season with 16 hits, 21 runs scored, and eight runs batted in. Almost half of his hits were for extra bases with five doubles, one triple and one home run. He worked his way to 14 walks and only struck out six times this summer. Murdoch also finished 12-for-12 on stolen base attempts.
Murdoch was held hitless in his opening two games in July and then broke out with a four-hit outing while collecting hits in 10 of his final 11 games.
“There was obviously some rust getting going. A couple of guys could kind of go throw, but our fields were closed. We could maybe play some catch out on the soccer field or hit off a tee. I had a tee in my garage, but it’s not the same. It took us some time to get going, but once we got going
I thought I had a pretty good year. I had a pretty solid rookie year last year, so it was nice to build on that.”
His offensive numbers are even more impressive considering the physical and mental demands of playing catcher on a young team.
“I had a pretty big role on the team this year. I think I did a pretty good job when it came to coming through for our team. It was good to be more in a leadership role again this year after learning from some older guys last year. I think it went pretty well for me.”
Murdoch spent the first semester of last year at the Baseball Saskatchewan Fall Academy in Saskatoon.
“That made a big difference. Everyday we had two hours of baseball. We had lots of strength and conditioning. We did some speed training. I had at least an hour everyday of just baseball for an extra four or five months of the year that you’d usually be doing something else… It was obviously a big help to be doing that every day. It keeps you in that mid-season form all year, which is really helpful.”
Murdoch plans to stay in Swift Current this fall and hopes to continue training both in Swift Current and in Saskatoon at the academy periodically.
“I am really hoping I get some sort of opportunity to play baseball past high school. At this point it’s not great time for that right now, just the way everything is going down there. They’re not even sure what the season is going to look like this year. It’s getting around that time and I have been trying to do some work to kind of get my name out there and hopefully I can get some sort of opportunity in the next year before I graduate next year.”