’Finish strong for the last week and a half’

A tenure with the Winnipeg Goldeyes was an offer Max Murphy couldn’t refuse.

“I think when I first started playing for the Goldeyes, I was pretty much coming right into my prime,” the 33-year-old veteran said Wednesday before first pitch at Blue Cross Park.

Asked to take a trip down memory lane, the outfielder only had good things to say about his current club, even though the Goldeyes weren’t the first American Association rodeo for the longtime Fish — playing his first three seasons with the St. Paul Saints.

The Robbinsdale, Minn., product started back in 2021 with the Goldeyes, but pinpoints his big breakout moment with the club to the 2022 season when he launched 31 home runs.

“That was an amazing thing I never thought I would accomplish,” he said.

The slugger went on to become the franchise leader in home runs last June, when he surpassed Reggie Ambercrombie’s record of 92. Murphy finished last season with 102 career home runs with the club and passed former infielder Josh Mazzola for fourth all-time in league home runs with 131.

Heading into Wednesday night’s tilt against the Kansas City Monarchs — who took Game 2 Tuesday night 8-3 after the Fish took Game 1 6-5 with a Keshawn Lynch walk-off win — he already boasted 10 homers on the season. But Murphy has noted the change in baseballs in the league has slowed his slugging percentage.

While baseball size and shape differs between the leagues, the slugger noticed a major change in the American Association a few years back.

“It’s become a lot harder to hit home runs here and a lot of the bigger parks,” Murphy observed. “You’ve seen the home run numbers go way down.

And while his role with the club to smash home runs has remained the same, Murphy has began to embrace his new role of guiding younger players in their careers.

“It’s been more of just trying to make the guys feel comfortable,” Murphy explained. “It’s hard to keep players in independent baseball when there’s better opportunities elsewhere.

“It’s been trying to be more of a leader.”

One of those Fish is Noah Marcelo, who was determined to make a splash outside of the Pioneer League.

“The first month, it was going to be something new. I was diving off in the deep end — I’d never been to Canada before,” the Californian-born player said. “This is a new league, a new team, so obviously everything’s going to be fresh.”

While the outfielder had a shaky start fo the season, having a rougher first game meant that he could only go up from there.

“It was definitely humbling for sure,” Marcelo commented. “The wheels turn a little bit after a performance like that and just stay the course… I’m relying on that work I put in and continue to let go.”

And Marcelo has shown that he’s a valuable member of the team, sitting before first pitch as the team’s season leader in home runs with 16.

“I belong here and it’s worked out,” he added.

Fellow outfielder Adam Hall also feels the support from the veterans on the team.

“It was a good group of guys. I was only there for the first three weeks or so but you get the vibe of what this place is like,” the Canadian said, whose first stint with the Fish was back in 2024.

“It’s been two different groups of guys but I think it’s a fairly similar experience from that year (2024) to this year in terms of how the team meshes.”

“Everybody pretty much gets along, not too much in terms of disagreements which makes it easy,” he added.

The end game for every season is to finish strong. And this season the Fish have looked just that, sitting just behind Kansas City for second spot in the West.

“It’s been a tough season (for me) but I feel good, so if I could just finish strong for the last week and a half and then be good in playoffs,” Murphy said.

The Goldeyes are back to wrap up the four-game series against the Monarchs Thursday night at Blue Cross Park with first pitch scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

grace.penner@winnipegfreepress.com