American Association Daily provides insights, features, and recaps of the action from around the American Association of Professional Baseball League, as well as player and coaching profiles and transactions. In today’s edition, This Week in the Association and the Minor League Sports Report name Winnipeg Goldeyes outfielder Max Murphy as American Association Player of the Week for Week 14 of the 2023 season.

Goldeyes OF Max Murphy Named Player of the Week

On Monday, This Week in the Association and the Minor League Sports Report named Winnipeg Goldeyes outfielder Max Murphy as the Player of the Week for Week 14 of the 2023 American Association season. Murphy had a monster week, hitting .611 with three homeruns and 11 RBI in five games.

The Winnipeg Goldeyes began the week with a three-game set against the Lincoln Saltdogs. The final contest of that series was rained out, but Murphy was impressive in the first two games, going 4-6 with a run scored and five RBI. On Tuesday, the outfielder went 1-2 with a double, driving home a run and walking twice. He closed out the series with a three-hit performance, hitting his first home run of the week and driving in four.

On Friday, the team welcomed the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks for three games. Murphy was a combined 7-12 in the series, scoring five runs, homering twice, and driving in six. He had an impressive start to the series, going 2-3 with four runs scored, two home runs, and four RBI. He also drew a walk and was hit by a pitch. After going 2-5 with a run scored on Saturday, Murphy went 3-4 with a double and two RBI.

His .611 batting average (11-18) led the league last week, as did his 11 RBI. Murphy scored six runs, had five extra-base hits, and led the league with a .682 on-base percentage. He also led the league with a 1.904 OPS and was second in slugging percentage (1.222).

Max Murphy was selected in the ninth round of the 2014 draft by the Minnesota Twins. He spent four seasons in the Twins organization, reaching AA-Chattanooga in 2017. In 2018, he was released by the Twins and signed with the St. Paul Saints, hitting .319 with 70 runs scored, 31 doubles, and 68 RBI in 98 games. He was signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks the following season, and reached AAA-Reno before being released once again. He returned to St. Paul where he spent the remainder of 2019 and all of 2020. In 2021, Murphy signed with the Winnipeg Goldeyes and has spent the last three seasons there.

In five seasons in the minors, Murphy hit a combined .265 with 221 runs scored and 171 RBI in 384 games. In the American Association he has been absolute beast, posting a .306 batting average with 97 home runs, 351 runs scored, and 380 RBI in 484 games. This season Murphy is hitting .298, and is leading the league in home runs (24) and RBI (74).

2023 American Association Players of the Week

Week 1 –Zach Nehrir, Outfielder, Cleburne Railroaders
Week 2 – Chris Herrmann, Catcher, Kansas City Monarchs
Week 3 – Matt Lloyd, Sioux City Explorers
Week 4 – Nick Anderson, Lincoln Saltdogs
Week 5 – Bryan Torres, Milwaukee Milkmen
Week 6 – Jonah Davis, Kane County Cougars
Week 7 – Hill Alexander, Cleburne Railroaders
Week 8 – Jordan Barth, Sioux Falls Canaries
Week 9 – Luke Roskam, Lincoln Saltdogs
Week 10 – Matt Lloyd, Sioux City Explorers
Week 11 – Jabari Henry, Sioux Falls Canaries
Week 12 – Todd Lott, Kane County Cougars
Week 13 – Justin Wylie, Kansas City Monarchs

By Robert Pannier