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CHASE MURRAY, CENTER FIELDER
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| Born: June 3, 1998 Height: 6’0″ Weight: 188 Bats: Left Throws: Right Drafted: 13th Round, 394th Overall, 2019 How Acquired: Draft College: Georgia Tech Agent: |
WTM’s PLAYER PROFILE |
| Murray is an outfielder with good speed and hitting ability who probably profiles as a fourth outfielder. He moved up draft boards with a strong sophomore season at Georgia Tech, batting 343/410/510 with solid plate discipline, drawing 27 walks while striking out 39 times. He followed that up with a good showing in the wood bat Cape Cod League, hitting 317/363/446 while playing center field. Unfortunately, he was hampered during his junior season by an oblique injury and hit just .235 in 27 games. The Pirates obviously are hoping that was an aberration. He’s not expected to hit for power. Baseball America ranked him 308th in the draft class and 22nd in Georgia in an average year for the state.
2019 Murray spent the season at Bristol after signing, playing mostly center. With Bristol’s outfield overloaded, he played only semi-regularly. Murray had a rough time at the plate, but he may have been hampered by lingering effects from the oblique injury and he was also dealing with back problems. His walk and K rates were especially bad. He hit LHPs better than RHPs (.732 OPS vs. .505), although he had only a small number of plate appearances against the former. Murray was a high enough draft pick that you’d like to think he could at least go to Greensboro in 2020. His debut wasn’t encouraging, but that may have resulted from injury issues. |
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CONTRACT INFORMATION
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| 2020: Minor league contract |
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PLAYER INFORMATION
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| Signing Bonus: MiLB Debut: 2019 MLB Debut: MiLB FA Eligible: 2025 MLB FA Eligible: Rule 5 Eligible: 2022 Added to 40-Man: Options Remaining: 3 MLB Service Time: 0.000 |
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TRANSACTIONS
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| June 5, 2019: Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 13th round, 394th overall pick; signed on June 12. |
