Murphy feels at home for Aflac

08-05-2007

By Tom Shanahan, San Diego Hall of Champions

Clark Murphy visited Seattle last year for the Mariners Cup, an all-star game that matched Southern California against the Pacific Northwest at Safeco Field.

The Fallbrook High first baseman, a 6-foot-3, 200-poind left-handed hitter that enters his senior year in the fall, has followed up that trip this summer with visits to Cincinnati, Atlanta, North Carolina and Missouri while playing with his travel team and performing before USA Baseball and professional scouts.

But that was enough traveling once August arrived. Living in Fallbrook, he was well positioned for the next two rounds of national baseball competition.

Murphy was able to commute the first weekend in August to the Area Code Games in Long Beach. The second weekend he traveled the opposite direction for the fifth annual Aflac All-American High School Baseball Classic in San Diego.

Valhalla’s Ryan O’Sullivan and Murphy are San Diegans selected among the 38 All-Americans in the nation for the Aflac game. The East vs. West matchup is at noon on Aug. 11 at San Diego State’s Tony Gwynn Stadium and will be televised by Fox Sports.

The Aflac game, which is being played in San Diego for the second straight year, is baseball’s version of the McDonald’s High School All-American Game.

“It’s a great honor to be picked an Aflac All-American,” Murphy said. “Ryan and I get to be the hometown boys. It will be fun to play in a game like that in San Diego; my family, teammates and friends can see us play.”

That was a little harder to do this time last year when Murphy was one of the younger players chosen to compete in Seattle the same weekend that the Aflac game was taking place in San Diego.

“I was able to watch the Aflac game on TV,” Murphy said. “I was impressed with the way guys adjusted to the pitching. Some of the guys were throwing 95 miles-per-hour.”

Murphy has seen some of that kind of heat this summer while measuring himself against the best high school talent in the nation. He has been considered a national level recruit since his freshman year and gave UCLA an early oral commitment.

“I wanted to get college out of the way so I could concentrate on my senior year,” Murphy said. “UCLA is a great program and a great school. I like the coaches and it’s a good group of guys. And it’s close to home so my family can come to the games.”

That is, if he attends UCLA. Murphy's play this summer and his senior season in the spring will determine how high he is drafted in June, 2008.

“My goal is to play professional baseball,” Murphy said. “If I get a good opportunity, that’s what I want to do. But if I don’t, UCLA is a great place to be.”

Murphy figures to be a more mature player for his senior season than a year ago, and not just because he’s a year older. After earning All-CIF honors as a sophomore when Fallbrook was the CIF San Diego Section Division I runner-up, Murphy was surprisingly not a repeat pick as a junior.

All-American honors include summer competition and tend to fall in line with projections of a player’s future. But CIF awards are based largely on a high school season, and Murphy found himself being pitched around as a junior.

In baseball, unlike other high school sports, a national prospect can be neutralized by not giving him anything to hit. It's not uncommon for top prospects to struggle their senior season after a big junior year.

Murphy faced the syndrome as a junior as his numbers were down as a result of playing in a less talented 2007 lineup. As a junior he hit .303 with seven home runs and 20 RBIs on a team that struggled to a 12-16 overall record and 6-9 finish in Avocado League play.

“I learned a lot to prepare for my senior year,” Murphy said. “I know now I’ve got to be more patient at the plate. My junior year I chased too many balls out of the strike zone; I didn’t start the season well.”

The summer before his senior year also gave him some perspective on life beyond baseball. Fallbrook coach Matt Parker lost his wife and 2-year-old daughter when they were killed in a single-car accident in June.

Murphy was among the Fallbrook students that participated in a car wash to raise $1,600 for Parker.

“It was great to see the students at Fallbrook and the community turn out for a great cause,” Murphy said. “It’s quite a terrible thing for Coach Parker to have to be going through.”

Tom Shanahan can be contacted at toms@sdhoc.com or 619-699-2334.