'Dead wrong': Once-skeptical Pat Murphy has grown to love Brewers outfielder Blake Perkins and his game

ST. LOUIS – A baseball lifer, Pat Murphy has seen and experienced just about everything there is to experience in the game.

But that doesn’t mean he isn’t still learning.

Case in point: Blake Perkins.

Murphy was entering his eighth year as bench coach of the Milwaukee Brewers in the spring of 2023 when he first laid eyes on Perkins, a career minor-leaguer to that point who was well down the major-league depth chart in the outfield.

“You kind of categorize guys – it's very dangerous,” recalled Murphy, now Brewers manager. “As young coaches, we come through and we think we kind of get a feel for our type of player. And I saw Blake Perkins and I'm like, “He's not like into it,’ and I just didn't have this feel that he was going to be the type of guy I love.

“Dead wrong. And I love it. I love being wrong about it. This guy has emerged. I just love everything he does. It taught me.

“The lesson is, be careful about making judgments.”

Blake Perkins may seem laid back, but he's worked hard to get to the major leagues

Perkins, as laid-back as they come, wasn’t aware of Murphy’s take on him at the time.

Told of it Saturday, one day removed from the one-year anniversary of his major-league debut with the Brewers, the 27-year-old could only laugh.

“It's understandable for sure with the way my personality is,” Perkins said. “I'm sure a lot of people think that at first. But I love this game a lot, and I love to win. Sometimes it appears that I’m relaxed, but I promise that it's a lot of work that gets put into making it look that way.”

Much was expected of Perkins when the Washington Nationals drafted him out of high school in the second round in 2015.

But he never quite put it all together in the minor leagues and had bounced from there to the Kansas City Royals to the New York Yankees, reaching as high as Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2022 before being cut loose at the end of the season.

The Brewers pounced and signed Perkins to a major-league deal just before Thanksgiving.

“He’s been even better than I think we expected initially,” assistant general manager Karl Mueller said.“Switch-hitter, good from the right side. We figured there’s going to be a fit in there somewhere. And the way we fill out our roster we’re always looking to layer on depth wherever we can.

“We figured this was a guy that’s going to be sought after, and by a lot of different teams. So, we kind of jumped ahead of that by not trying to play this recruiting game with minor-league opportunities and put him on the roster and see how it goes from there.”

Perkins hit only .188 in 19 Cactus League games last year and opened at Class AAA Nashville, but found himself debuting with the Brewers only a few weeks later. It was a unique confluence of events for Perkins, as Garrett Mitchell had just been sidelined by a major shoulder injury and Sal Frelick likewise at Nashville by a thumb injury.

His first stint in Milwaukee lasted only 10 games and didn’t go well.

But he returned with a vengeance in early June and celebrated by hitting his first career homer – a grand slam – and driving in five runs to spark a win over the Reds in Cincinnati. Aside from an oblique strain that sidelined him for almost five weeks, Perkins was with the Brewers the rest of the way and finished with a .217 average, four homers and 20 runs batted in over 67 games.

Injuries open the door for Blake Perkins this season

This season, Perkins made his first opening-day roster and again it was an injury suffered by Mitchell that opened the door.

Now, Christian Yelich’s balky back has sent him to the injured list and Perkins is making the most of his opportunity. Playing every day since, Perkins was hitting .333 with a homer, four doubles and a pair of RBI to raise his season totals to .356/2/6 with an OPS of .956 entering Sunday’s series sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium.

“It's, like, good and bad,” said Perkins, who's hit in 10 of the 12 games he's played in and recorded multiple hits in four. “Obviously, I don't want Yeli to not be feeling well or see anyone get hurt. But, I mean, it's part of it. You’ve got to be ready to step up when it's time to step up.

“So, I'm glad that I've been able to have some success early on and help the team the best I can.”

With Frelick filling in for Yelich in left field, Perkins has been the everyday centerfielder and excelled in that role. Using his 88th percentile speed and 92nd percentile range, Perkins is tied for the team lead with shortstop Willy Adames and second baseman Brice Turang in outs above average (two) while tracking down balls that appear destined for extra bases.

And right on cue Sunday, Perkins then delivered the Brewers' defensive play of the year when he robbed a certain three-run homer from Lars Nootbaar with a leaping catch at the wall in the first inning.

“I grew up watching people like Torii Hunter, Carlos Beltran,” he said. “I was wanting to make the game look, not easy, but fluid. I guess that's a good word. Everyone's unique, obviously, but I want to look smooth.”

It remains to be seen when Yelich will be well enough to return – the earliest that can happen will be Tuesday in Pittsburgh – and then once Mitchell’s fractured finger heals, he’ll enter the picture as well sometime in late May.

Then it will be decision time for Murphy and the Brewers.

“There’s a whole bunch of guys with all (of Perkins’s skills). It’s just, doing it consistently,” Murphy said. “And I’m banking on him. I really believe in him. It’s going to be hard to get him out of there. When Yeli comes back, he’s playing. I think Perkins is playing.

“So, we’ll see.”

Mueller, given a chance to take a bow as part of the brain trust that brought Perkins aboard, quickly deferred.

“It's a credit to obviously Blake more than anything,” he said. “I mean, what he's doing offensively to how he's improved himself from the left side of the plate, which was kind of the weaker side for him. The fact that he's almost pretty much turning himself into a regular player in front of our eyes, it's been awesome to see.

“I'm looking forward to seeing where he kind of takes it from here.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers manager Pat Murphy has grown to love Blake Perkins' game