Sky’s the limit: Pirates high prospect Murf Gray making rapid climb
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While he grew up in California, it's understandable that Murf Gray had never been to Altoona until earlier this week.
After high school, he went to college at Fresno State, which was less than 25 miles away from his hometown.
Before his first game at PNG Field on Tuesday, he came back in the tunnel from the field and talked about his first impressions of his new surroundings.
"It's nice here. It's really green," Gray said. "It's a lot different than the West Coast. It's all new to me."
While living in Central Pennsylvania is new to Gray, what remains the same is the impact he's making on the baseball field.
Ever since being drafted by the Pirates last summer, Gray has rapidly climbed the system, making it an upset that he's already found himself with the Curve in such a short amount of time. He is now the No. 3 prospect in the system after starting the season at No. 17 within the Pirates' organization.
And he's also turning heads on the national level as he's now in the top 100 prospects in all of Minor League Baseball.
When he was drafted by the Pirates a year ago, the Pirates went to work right away by re-tooling his swing. It has resulted in a rise in power. After hitting 36 home runs in three years of college baseball at Fresno State, Gray already has 26 this season across three levels in the minors.
"(Pirates hitting coaches) said, 'How can we clean up your swing and be efficient for 130 games? With that came the power," Gray said. "You become more patient. You take more walks. You get more pitches you can hit. You start realizing where your power zones are, so when you get that pitch, you don't miss."
Gray hit three home runs in his first eight days at the Double-A level in road trips at Reading and Akron, but was humbled in his first couple of games at his new home. He went 0 for 6 with five strikeouts in his first two games, although he did manage to get two walks.
"It's more like you're playing chess now, not checkers," Gray said. "You can't swing at everything and expect to get a bloop knock."
When he started the season at Low-A Bradenton, he needed only 38 games and 142 at-bats before being promoted. He was hitting .359 at the time of his promotion.
He needed only five more games at High-A Greensboro than he did in Bradenton, and somehow his numbers became even better.
"Low-A guys had really good stuff," Gray said. "In High-A, they can maybe control their stuff a little more. Once you get to Double-A, it's like everyone is here for a reason. They can control every pitch they have, and they're looking to get you out on their best stuff. You have to know what you can hit so that you can stay away from their best stuff."
Gray has played fine defense for the most part of the season with just seven errors to his name. There are questions if he can remain playing the hot corner because of his size as he gets older, but he admits that he's a work in progress on defense.
The next question that will be answered soon is whether or not he will still be a part of the Pirates' organization next week. Gray's name has come up in trade rumors frequently in the MLB hot stove frenzy. The trade deadline is on Monday at 6 p.m. with the Pirates in a position to be buyers.
One of the toughest parts for any player is ignoring the chatter at this time of year, and Gray leans on his family to get through it right now.
"I know they have my back wherever I'm at,'' he said. "It's not worrying about what's next. It's worrying about where my feet are right now and just playing hard where I'm at and being happy. I'm happy I get to play this game as my job."