WASHINGTON -- Nationals second baseman Daniel Murphy underwent surgery on Friday to repair the articular cartilage in his right knee. The club announced the debridement and microfracture surgery was performed successfully by Dr. Timothy Kremchek, an orthopedic surgeon in Ohio.
The team did not provide any timetable for Murphy's recovery, other than that his rehab will begin immediately and will progress throughout the offseason.
Justin Turner, who was just named co-MVP of the NLCS, had a similar surgery after the 2013 season and went on to play more than 100 games and bat .340 for the Dodgers the following season.
In his second season in Washington, Murphy complied a slash line of .322/.384/.543 with 23 home runs and a .928 OPS -- numbers that have become the norm as he has reinvented himself as one of the game's best hitters.
The injury never forced Murphy to the disabled list, but he appeared to slow down a bit near the end of the season, which included regular off-days to keep him fresh. In August, Murphy posted a .785 OPS -- by far the lowest of any month -- with just three home runs and five doubles. He rebounded during the season's final month with a .978 OPS with three homers and five doubles. But at times, he did not appear to have the same power as he had early in the year -- he hit five homers and nine doubles in April with a .969 OPS.
Murphy was healthy enough to appear in all five games in the National League Division Series by T-Mobile, where he posted a .739 OPS and homered in Game 5. He never revealed that he was dealing with any injury.
"I said it before, you just try to get a good pitch to hit and hit it hard," Murphy said before Game 4. "I haven't been doing either, so hopefully I can change that. And be able to get some traffic going in front of me and be able to cash in on that."