OAKLAND – Former Wright State standout and current Oakland Athletics catcher Sean Murphy was named the American League Gold Glove Award winner at catcher on Sunday night.
Murphy, who won his first award in his first season as a finalist, had 10 defensive runs saved, which ranked second among AL backstops. According to Statcast, Murphy had eight runs saved from pitch framing, which led all AL catchers. The 27-year-old backstop led all MLB catchers in FanGraphs' defensive runs above average, with 19.6.
Murphy takes home his first Gold Glove Award a year after finishing fourth in AL Rookie of the Year Award voting in 2020, and made Oakland history in the process, becoming the first A's catcher to win a Gold Glove.
A combination of votes submitted by managers and coaches and a sabermetric index provided by the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) goes into determining Gold Glove winners. Murphy was one of 10 first-time winners for the award this year.
A third-round draft pick of the Athletics in 2016, Murphy came to Wright State as a walk-on from Centerville and proceeded to start 150 games over three seasons, earn Horizon League Freshman of the Year honors in 2014 and earn all-league accolades all three years as a Raider. He was called up and made his big-league debut on September 4, 2019, tallying his first MLB hit with a home run in the bottom of the fifth inning for the Athletics.
