Daniel Murphy’s approach at plate carrying over following hot postseason

Daniel Murphy doesn’t want to go too far into it for fear the results might become unraveled. When he’s in the batter’s box, the thoughts are generic: find a pitch in his zone, place his “A” swing on it. See ball, hit ball, which is what it all boils down to anyway.

“If I get too much more in-depth than that, I’ll talk myself out of hitting,” Murphy said.

It’s Murphy’s hot start following a potent postseason, when he was named the MVP of the National League Championship Series, which has people searching for more. Entering Thursday’s 3-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, the left-hander’s .391 average was second in baseball. Only St. Louis Cardinals rookie and anomaly Aledmys Diaz, who is hitting an otherworldly .468, is ahead of him.

On the advice of New York Mets hitting coach Kevin Long, Murphy moved closer to the plate in 2015. Once Murphy found comfort with the change — he doesn’t have a precise timeframe that comes to mind — he began to pull the ball more often and with more power. Though always difficult to strike out, there was little power accompanying Murphy’s at-bats. Entering this season, his slugging percentage was a mere .419. It leaped to .449 last season with the Mets, then to a Bondsian .724 in the postseason.

“I think I was able to reap some of the benefits somewhat quickly,” Murphy said of creeping closer. “There’s an ebb and flow to every season. You adjust to pitchers and they adjust to you, because they’re really good, then you try to adjust back as quickly as possible.”

He has carried the extra power to his new home in Washington. Murphy was slugging .638, second on the team to reigning National League MVP Bryce Harper, entering Thursday. Murphy is on pace for 17 home runs, which would be a career high. Last season, Nationals second basemen combined to hit 16 home runs with a .251 average. Almost a third of that production came from Anthony Rendon, who is typically the team’s third baseman.

Talking about tactics in the batter’s box with manager Dusty Baker will make him smile. In spring training, he had independently mentioned how a batter can change his strike zone by changing position in the box. As always, there is a story behind Baker’s knowledge.

“One of the first guys that I seen do it, and he set up pitchers, and he would tell me he’s going to do it, he would move up on the plate, this guy is going to try to crowd me on the inside, get him out of there, then I’m going to move off the plate and make him think that I’m looking for a fastball and I’m really looking for a breaking ball, was Davey Johnson,” Baker said. “I batted in front of Davey Johnson. He hit [43] home runs [in 1973]. I bet half of them, he set up the pitcher and catcher to make him throw what he wants to throw him by the way he was setting up in the box.

“I wish our hitters — a guy is throwing sinkers, can’t hit in the back of the box and hit that sinker before it sinks. If a guy’s throwing real hard, get back by the umpire to give you more time if he lets you. You kind of use that box to set up what you’re looking for and to also set up the opposition of what they think you might be looking for.”

Murphy has stayed closer to the plate this season, similar to what he did in 2015. He’s not sure if his feet are dug into the same dirt as they were last year, but he has remained on top of the plate and rarely beaten inside despite his location. One of the few pitchers to successfully crowd Murphy this season was the Philadelphia Phillies’ Jeremy Hellickson.

On Wednesday night, Murphy hit a fastball that was low and away for a ground-rule double to left field in his first at-bat. Being so close helped Murphy’s solid contact on a pitch away. In his second at-bat, Hellickson struck Murphy out looking when three of his four pitches sliced past the inside edge of the plate. Murphy grumbled at home plate umpire Will Little.

Murphy may eschew going too far down a statistical rabbit hole when talking about his success at the plate, but that doesn’t mean he’s not prepared. Each day, hitting coach Rick Schu meets players individually to go over the night’s opposing pitcher.

“Talk with Murph every day about it,” Schu said. “He’s pretty much already got his game plan together before I even speak to him.”

Murphy relies on recent video of the starting pitcher, preferring to look at the last couple starts as opposed to an extensive history. For relievers, Murphy looks at the last handful of times the pitchers has faced a left-handed hitter.

“Trying to boil it down as basic as possible,” Murphy said. “Try to see what he does well, see what I do well, and hopefully it’s about executing a plan. Hopefully, I can execute my plan better than the pitcher that night.”

If it were only that easy for everybody.