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PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Pirates named Murf Gray as the organization's Willie Stargell Slugger of the Year on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old Gray hit a combined .305 (143-for-469) with 27 doubles, 32 home runs, 97 RBIs, 66 walks, a .402 on-base percentage, a .567 slugging percentage, a .969 OPS and 100 runs scored in his 126 games split between Low-A Bradenton (38 games), High-A Greensboro (43 games) and Double-A Altoona (45 games) during his first professional season in 2026.
His 32 home runs paced all Pittsburgh minor leaguers and were also tied with Chad Hermansen (1999), Jon Benick (2004) and Andrew Lambo (2013) for the fourth-most by any Pirates minor league player since 1999, trailing only Brad Eldred in 2004 (38 home runs), Mason Martin in 2019 (35 home runs) and Craig Wilson in 2000 (33 home runs).
Gray made his professional debut with Bradenton on April 3 at Dunedin and led the Florida State League in hits (51), RBIs (34), slugging percentage (.606), OPS (1.042) and total bases (86).
Selected by Pittsburgh out of Fresno State in the 2025 MLB Draft, Gray made his Grasshoppers debut on May 19 vs. Winston-Salem. He paced the South Atlantic League in total bases (105) and also ranked tied for first in home runs (15), third in slugging percentage (.610), tied for third in both hits (52) and extra-base hits (23).
He made his Double-A debut with the Curve on July 17 at Reading and was third in the Eastern League in OBP (.395), tied for fourth in runs (34), seventh in OPS (.879) and tied for eighth in walks (29) in his time with Altoona.
In other awards news, Derek Diamond was named the organization's Kent Tekulve Reliever of the Year.
The 25-year-old Diamond went a combined 7-0 with two saves, a 2.48 ERA, 57 strikeouts and a 1.02 WHIP in 37 appearances (two starts) split between the Rookie-Level Florida Complex League Pirates, Low-A Bradenton, Double-A Altoona and Triple-A Indianapolis in 2026.
Diamond, who was selected by Pittsburgh out of the University of Mississippi in the sixth round of the 2022 MLB Draft, began the season on the seven-day injured list before pitching on a rehab assignment with the FCL Pirates and Bradenton.
He was reinstated at Altoona on May 23, where he pitched 10 scoreless innings and posted 13 strikeouts, a .063 batting average against and a 0.20 WHIP across his five appearances.
Diamond was promoted to Indianapolis on June 9 and made his Triple-A debut on June 11. He went 5-0 with one save, a 3.14 ERA and 39 strikeouts across his 29 total appearances.