Murphy a well deserved All Star

Tonight is the MLB All-Star Game, and the only Met participating is Daniel Murphy, and there is no player that deserves to be there more. Murphy is one of the hardest working baseball players out there. He plays the game the way that it should be played. He always hustles, plays hard, and does anything he can to help the team. He is currently 2nd in the NL in hits with 113, trailing Andrew McCutchen and Casey McGehee who have 115 each. Murph has a .294 average this season to go with 7 homers and 37 RBI.

Murphy came up to the MLB in late 2008. His primary position was 3rd base... However, the Mets had their 3rd baseman of the future in David Wright. He had 131 at-bats that year and hit .313. He played left field for the most part because he was too good of a hitter to keep out of the lineup. He started 2009 as the everyday left fielder. The Murph in left experiment turned into a disaster. He struggled mightily in left, and when Carlos Delgado got injured, they moved Murphy over to 1st.

The Mets went into the 2010 with Murphy as the starting 1st baseman. This was the plan until Murphy hurt himself running the bases in spring training. This injury opened the door for Ike Davis, who quickly became the starting 1st baseman and Murph was no longer looked at as an option at 1st. So he tried to learn how to play 2nd. He worked so hard to learn the position, which is so different from 3rd base, where Murphy has always been the most comfortable. While learning to play the position, he tore his MCL trying to turn a double play and never played game for the Mets in 2010.

In 2011 the Mets didn't really consider him an option to be the starting 2nd baseman. Brad Emaus won the job out of spring training, but he never got anything going and was sent back to the Blue Jays because the Mets got him in the Rule 5 Draft that year. They called up Justin Turner and Turner became the starting 2nd baseman, but Murphy, whenever given the chance, did nothing but hit. If there's one thing that can be said about Murphy, he can absolutely rake. He eventually won the starting job at 2nd and got himself into a race for the batting title that year. Then in August, Murphy tore his other MCL turning a double play and would miss the rest of the season. He was batting .320.

Murph played in 156 games in 2012 and 161 in 2013. He has become one of the better 2nd basemen in the league and has come a long way defensively. He has worked so hard to learn how to play the position, which is one of the reasons why I am so happy that he finally made an All Star Team.

Murphy is 29 now and he has seemingly always been surrounded in trade talks. But Murph deserves a contract extension. He loves being a Met and wants to stay in New York. He is a fan favorite and consistently hits in the .290s. He is one of the most underrated players in all of baseball and I really hope that the Mets don't trade him and that they give him an extension. Murph deserves it. He has worked so hard and done so much for the New York Mets organization and they should reward him for everything he has done.