MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy is one of three finalists for the NL Manager of the Year award.
Over the weekend, Murphy returned to Wisconsin to help the next generation of baseball players.
When the Pat Murphy Youth Skills Camp was first announced at the MOSH Performance Center in Franklin, young baseball players just had to get in the door.
“The Brewers are my favorite MLB team, and I was really looking forward to this camp,” said Milo Stemper, a youth skills camper.
“It was really cool seeing him and experiencing the camp,” said Trevor Kucharski, a youth skills camper.
Throughout the day, over 120 kids packed the facility because they would get the chance to meet and learn from Murphy himself.
Over a two-day span, Murphy hosted a coach’s clinic, along with three youth skills sessions. He had the help of various coaches, along with his son Kai, who is an outfielder for the Fort Wayne TinCaps, the High-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres.
“It’s all about giving back,” said Murphy. “I mean if your life doesn’t include trying to impact others and doesn’t include trying to give back, then I don’t think it’s that worthwhile to be honest with you, so, it’s a pleasure you know, and this community means a lot to me. It was the least I could do.”
The camp had multiple stations, where the kids could hone their skills by catching, pitching and hitting. Outside of the technical part of the game, this was about much more.
“You’re getting that high level stuff from him, but it’s more about kind of showing them how to have fun, or just another way to have fun playing the game,” said Kai Murphy. “Who knows, maybe they took something technical from here, but I think it’s more of a mental thing like, hey that was really fun, and I want to keep doing that. I learned something about myself today and tried something new today and hopefully that translates, whether it’s in baseball or just the rest of their life.”
Murphy also had a chance to connect with the next potential generation of major league baseball players, from right here in Wisconsin.
“Everybody knows that Wisconsin is the place to go to get some guys, no doubt about it and I think more than ever before,” said Murphy. “It’s fertile. They’ve got great facilities, great coaches, great people. It just fits, you know what I mean?”
That sentiment and Murphy’s impact was certainly felt.
“Pat said I had a great arm, which I’m really thankful for that he said that,” said Landen Treloar, a youth skills camper. “My dream is to make the MLB, go to Arizona State and I know he coached there, coaches for the Brewers. It’s kind of my dream, so to hear someone like that tell me that I had a good arm, that really gets my hopes up.”
Making a difference was always the goal.
Now, when asked how he thought he coached up these future stars, here’s a patented response from the Brewers skipper.
“I’m not sure I taught them anything, but maybe just by being around it,” said Murphy. “We had some great coaches out here. Maybe they picked up something. When you’re this age, you don’t know what your best is. You don’t know what you can do. You don’t think maybe sometimes your dreams can come true and I’m here to tell you they can.”
That’s a message Murphy wants to be well-received, because each aspiring player who showed up hopefully learned to love the game a little more.
“It’s cool to just kind of give back to the community that gave so much to him and has continued to show so much love to him,” said Kai. ” For him, it’s just about the people, you know? Being able to affect some people today, hopefully, at least one person, is a cool thing.”
