Brewers' Murphy named NL Manager of the Year

Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy was named 2024 National League Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Murphy received 27 first-place votes to beat out fellow finalists Carlos Mendoza of the New York Mets and San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt. He was the only skipper named on every ballot.

Here's a look at the full vote totals:

Murphy is the first Brewers skipper to win the award, which was established in 1983. Milwaukee had been the only franchise left without a Manager of the Year winner before Tuesday. Brewers managers had finished second in Manager of the Year voting six times in previous years.

The Brewers promoted Murphy from bench coach to manager last offseason when longtime skipper Craig Counsell left to take the Chicago Cubs' job. Murphy inherited a Brewers squad that wasn't expected to contend after the departure of Counsell and the trade of ace Corbin Burnes.

Under his watch, Milwaukee defied all expectations to go 93-69 en route to the club's second consecutive NL Central title and its fourth since 2018. Murphy kept the Brewers steady, pushing them to the playoffs despite not having starter Brandon Woodruff all season, missing closer Devin Williams for the first several months, and then losing Christian Yelich to a back injury late in the year.

Murphy becomes the 10th Manager of the Year winner who didn't play in the major leagues. He only played parts of three seasons as a professional, topping out at A-ball in 1983.

The 65-year-old is the second-oldest first-time winner of the award behind Jack McKeon, who won it at age 68 in 1999.

Murphy's award is the culmination of a long baseball coaching career that's taken him to multiple levels of the sport. He won over 900 games in the NCAA with Notre Dame and Arizona State before starting his professional managerial career in the Padres' system. Murphy was San Diego's interim skipper for 96 games in 2015 before moving to Milwaukee as Counsell's bench coach.