Padres Name Pat Murphy Triple-A Tucson Manager

Pat Murphy, the manager who led the Eugene Emeralds to consecutive league-best overall season records in the Northwest League, will now be leading the charge at Triple-A Tucson.

On Tuesday, the Padres announced that they have named Murphy as the manager of Triple-A Tucson in 2013, according to Padres.com

Courtesy of: Tucson Padres

In two seasons with the Emeralds, Murphy has compiled a 93-47 record while managing some of the Padres’ top prospects like Cory Spangenberg, Jace Peterson, Jeremy Baltz and Kevin Quackenbush.

Maxx Tissenbaum, who played under Murphy this year at Eugene, said on Padres.com that Murphy is a player’s coach.

“I loved the combination of his intensity and his ability to keep the daily grind fun.” Tissenbaum said. “He demands that every guy can is always working hard but understands the routine of playing every day can get repetitive. He’s a guy who you can really tell cares about the guys. He’s someone you want to play for.”

Murphy,53, finds himself back in Arizona where he was the baseball coach at Arizona State University, coaching the Sun Devils to the post season for 10 straight seasons and 11 of 12.
“Tucson is a great city and I’ve always enjoyed going there,” Murphy said on the Tucson Padres Web site.  “I am excited for next season and the challenge of managing in Triple-A”

Murphy quickly climbed his way up the Padres’ ranks after being hired by the Padres in February 2010 as a special assistant to baseball operations.

The Padres also announced that Bonswell Patrick would serve on Murphy’s staff as the team’s pitching coach. Patrick was with the Padres’ High-A affiliate last year with the Lake Elsinore Storm.

Tom Tornicasa joins the staff as hitting coach for his 14^th season in the Padres organization.  Tornicasa spent the last two-seasons with Double-A San Antonio where the Missions won the Texas League Championship in 2011.

Murphy was a very successful coach in college ranks. He won 318 games at Notre Dame from 1988-1994

In September, the Padres had announced that they were not bringing back Terry Kennedy as manager of Triple-A Tucson and pitching coach Steve Webber.