Blake Murphy

Wow.

There you go.

The first MVP in franchise history for a reason.

I'll take a go-ahead Grand Slam in the top of the ninth in Detroit or in New York.

Yeah, I've been blown away, man.

And I think last night was another incredible example of how much he's grown as a pitcher in his short time with the Blue Jays.

Look, when he signed with the team, he was ostensibly a two-pitch pitcher, right?

He was 86% either fastball or slider in 2024.

Last year, he was 83% one of those two pitches.

He's not that guy anymore.

His changeup has become a weapon.

His sinker has become a weapon.

He's using his curveball 9% of the time.

he's suddenly got an unbelievably deep repertoire that he really understands how to use and he still has 99 with the heater and a 90 mile an hour slider that generates a whiff on almost half of his swings and not only has he meaningfully developed and bolstered his repertoire but more recently he's been throwing more strikes which really just puts him in the driver's seat that much more and opens up so many more possibilities in terms of how he can attack hitters and use all of those weapons actually his strike rate in may so over his three may starts represents the fourth best

strike throwing month of his entire career.

And last night, let's look at last night.

His first pitch strike rate last night was 65%, the start before 72%, the start before 68%.

I mean, that's just putting him in advantageous positions consistently.

You know, over his first six starts with the Blue Jays, he never once posted a first pitch strike rate over 60%.

It's not a coincidence that his three longest and arguably his three best starts of the season coincided with his three highest first pitch strike rates of the season.