Now, apply the more nuanced filter to this remarkable offensive showing: Murphy entered Monday hitting .409 on balls put in play, which was third highest in the majors at the time. Hitters generally hover a few points below .300. BABIP averages as high as Murphy’s are generally considered outliers due for regression to the mean — artificially elevated by luck as much as by particularly solid contact.

Then again, Murphy is making a great deal of solid contact. Fangraphs estimates he is hitting 26 percent of the balls he hits for line drives, which is in the top 25 in baseball. Nearly 39 percent of his contact qualifies as hard contact, also according to Fangraphs. That also ranks him in the top 25, but does not separate him the way his average does. Murphy is the first to admit when balls fall in, like the pop-up that fell between converging infielders on the edge of the infield dirt against the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night. He deflects when asked about the better contact: “Just trying to get a pitch and my zone and get my ‘A’ swing off,” he says, again and again.

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That approach — finding pitches on which to “do damage” instead of just get hits — is what Murphy has said served him so well during last year’s remarkable playoff showing. His teammate Jayson Werth, who played against Murphy for many National League East seasons, said he thinks that playoff performance helped Murphy — who he said “was always a gamer” — take a step he could not have taken without it.

“Obviously, Daniel took his game to the next level, maybe the next couple levels [during the playoffs],” Werth said. “I think he was really progressing as a player, then coming into spring training, he hasn’t skipped a beat. I think that really was beneficial to his psyche or career or however you want to say it. I really think that progressed his game to a whole new level, and we’re reaping the rewards of it.”

Those rewards have included eight home runs in two months. Murphy’s career high for an entire season is 14. He continues to stick to a daily routine, which Bryce Harper pointed out as the thing that has impressed him most about the Nationals second baseman after Murphy went 3 for 4 Monday night. So far, Murphy has been a model of consistency in routine, approach, and his handling of the success that has come with it.

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“Murph has given me his best, plus some,” Nationals Manager Dusty Baker said. “So instead of worrying about when it’s going to stop, just give me some more keep it going.”