Is Pat Murphy Helping Jackson Chourio, or Hindering Him?

[Jake McKibbin]

Tasked with the difficult dual responsibilities of winning games at the highest possible rate and developing the franchise's most important young player, Pat Murphy has occasionally sidelined (and at other times merely deprioritized) Jackson Chourio. Is he making the right calls?

Image courtesy of © Michael McLoone-USA TODAY Sports

Jackson Chourio hasn’t hit his stride just yet in the big leagues; he's still in the process of adapting to the sequencing and quality of pitches he’s facing. This isn’t unexpected for a 20-year-old plunged so suddenly into the deep water of MLB competition, but to properly adjust would require Chourio to regularly see big-league pitching--and those adjustments will be crucial to his contributions in the longer term. Adapting to not just the quality of pitching but the pressure and grind of baseball in the big leagues is an arduous process, so let’s take a look at some of Pat Murphy’s decisions about how to ease that process for his star pupil.

The Art of The Carrot and the Stick
In his first press conference, a former English rugby manager talked about the art of managing players and their egos to get the best out of them, and how some players need compliments and positivity to thrive, while others need a more critical directive. Balancing those disparate and sometimes competing needs for 26 players is complicated, but it’s a tightrope managers are required to walk. 

As early as spring training, we got a preview of Murphy giving the stick to Chourio with condemnation of his outfield reads, and that’s continued into the season. Though gentle to the point of near-subliminality, Murphy has made comments questioning his star rookie's professionalism and preparation. Chourio may respond well to this, and it seems as though Murphy has singled him out more than others (such as Oliver Dunn). He's certainly made the occasional positive public reference, as well.

When it comes to the carrot and the stick, the results are the only thing that matters, and how Chourio responds will be a barometer of Murphy’s managerial capabilities, especially given Chourio’s age and moldability. Experience--something Murphy has in spades--often helps with this nuance, and with the respect he's garnered among the rest of the team, it may actually be effective with Chourio.

The “Reset” Break
Between Apr. 30 and May 3, Chourio got only a lone pinch-hit appearance, in the eighth inning of a game, effectively taking 25 innings and an off day away from the field. He was eased back into it, getting no more than three innings from May 8-12, usually as a fielding replacement. 

Murphy, when asked about this, suggested Chourio may need a reset after some issues with contact, and asked him to focus on how veteran players took their at-bats and prepared for games. It was a wake-up call, and it seemed to work. His contact skills have improved considerably, and the following markers show definite improvement since May 4 (compared to April):

• 16.7% strikeout rate (↓16.6%)
• Average exit velocity 89.4 mph (↑2.8 mph)
• Whiff rate 24.2% (↓7.7%)

Chourio has reset and come back hitting the ball harder, making more contact and avoiding cheap outs. These are backed up by the eye test, with Chourio looking more patient and comfortable at the plate, chasing fewer ridiculous pitches and takine a higher-quality at-bat overall. It’s a solid improvement, although he does still need to get the ball in the air more often to access the full potential of his power. He’s by no means the finished article yet, but these are strong indicators that Murphy’s decision to bench Chourio for a period has paid dividends.

The Pinch-Hitting and Winning Now
Murphy has taken Chourio down for a pinch-hitter eight times so far this season, and in some ways, that makes sense. The rookie skipper has put winning above player development when forced to choose between them. That being said, Chourio needs a different approach, with a focus on what will help him in the long term as well. The team committed to him for eight to 10 years, depending on options. Even if it’s a struggle now, the benefits of developing Chourio well down the line are worthwhile. 

Pinch-hitting in high-leverage situations does nothing to help Chourio develop. It was particularly noticeable when Murphy made the decision to pinch-hit a struggling Blake Perkins (with two hits in two weeks) over Chourio, purely because of a right-handed reliever being on the mound. In the same vein as learning to use lower-leverage relievers when behind in the game, it’s also vital that Murphy can adjust to allow Chourio to face these kinds of situations, even if it doesn’t always work out in the short term. He’s expected to be a middle-of-the-order bat for the Brewers for a long time, and he’ll be facing plenty of these down the line; that experience will be vital even later in the 2024 season.

Murphy’s management of Chourio is open to interpretation. Whether or not the “stick” approach works will be judged by how the outfield phenom grows in the next few months. It seems like it’s paid off once already, but players can get tired if all they face is criticism. Just as importantly, when a manager calls out the performance of a player and starts removing that player from situations where they might have a huge impact, the player's confidence can take a hit.

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What do you think of Murphy's management style? Can you see the logic behind it, or does it baffle you slightly? Let us know in the comments below!

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[Underachiever]

It seems Brewerfan is micromanaging Murphy's use of Chourio. You said it yourself: the team committed to him for 8 to 10 years. Let's not decide Murphy has ruined Chourio in the first 46 games of his career. There are some posters who have decided that Murphy is a failure after 46 games, in the same way that some said Turang's bat would never play in the major leagues when Brice struggled last year. The tool of the angry poster, also known as the nuclear option, is very rarely what an organization uses to build a franchise.

I wish Chourio was playing like Corbin Carroll or Steven Kwan did out of the gate. But the fact that he is not, is not necessarily on management.

[WAN2]

 After all the phenom hype--even at age 20--I expected more "wow" moments from him AB AND in the field.  I sit with bated breath.  

[Samurai Bucky]

There certainly is a fine line -- the organization made a commitment to the player, brings him up, the fans are excited because they were eagerly awaiting his arrival, and then he struggles.  Then decisions are made to help him and the team.

No, I'm not talking about Chourio, I'm talking about Sal Frelick.  Stay with me.

Last year at opening day, the board was buzzing when Frelick was called up.  Heck, people even thought he should have been called up the previous year.  So, he struggles, then there are people, on the same board that was buzzing about him, calling for him to sit.

We are certainly a fickle bunch, aren't we?

What is the difference between Chourio and Frelick?  A lot of years and a boat load of dollars under contract.  Sure, Chourio has more talent than Frelick.  However, does that give him a free pass:  "Pinch-hitting in high-leverage situations does nothing to help Chourio develop..." when seeing pitches in the batter's box.  If the only goal to getting a young player to see pitches at the plate, then you are spot on.  I would argue there is more to a player being good than seeing pitches.

Remember, Murphy has decades more experience with young men of college age (Chourio fits that category) than some people on this board have been alive.  I trust he knows what is doing not only in physical player development, but in mental player development.  What does it mean to hit behind the runner?  How do you learn before and during the game on how to attack the opposing team while in the batter's box?  He's 20, so perhaps he needs to know how to grow up.  All things that he has done with young men for a very long time.

Player development is more complicated than we think.  Let's trust Murphy.