Major League Baseball

Brewers reportedly expected to promote bench coach Pat Murphy to manager

Published Nov. 13, 2023 11:15 p.m. ET

The Milwaukee Brewers are expected to promote bench coach Pat Murphy to replace Craig Counsell as manager, FOX Sports MLB insider Ken Rosenthal reported Monday evening.

This is the 64-year-old Murphy's first full-time managerial opportunity at the MLB level, though he was the San Diego Padres' interim manager for most of 2015 after the team fired Bud Black early that season, going 42-54 at the helm. Murphy had served as former Brewers manager Craig Counsell's bench coach since 2016 until Counsell departed for the division rival Chicago Cubs in a surprise move last week.

Murphy was previously a decorated college baseball coach at Notre Dame — where he coached Counsell — and at Arizona State, where he led the Sun Devils to four College World Series appearances and a national runner-up finish in 1998. After his resignation from ASU amid an NCAA investigation in 2009, Murphy coached in the Padres' organization for six seasons before joining his former mentee and longtime friend Counsell in Milwaukee.

Murphy's promotion had been seen as a possibility since Brewers owner Mark Attanasio told reporters after Counsell's departure that the rest of Milwaukee's coaching staff would be returning, implying that Counsell's successor would be promoted from within.

Murphy is the second former MLB bench coach to get promoted this offseason after the departure of a manager. The Houston Astros promoted Joe Espeda to replace the retiring Dusty Baker.

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