The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Fresno State third baseman Murf Gray with their second round competitive balance pick during last year's draft. So far, it has looked like one of the best picks of the entire draft by any of the 30 MLB teams. Gray is tearing up minor league pitching like it's nothing. However, despite his performance, Gray has yet to receive his flowers from the prospect rankings.
Gray is slashing an impressive .363/.440/.643 with a .481 wOBA, and 180 wRC+ throughout his first 183 plate appearances of the year with A-Ball Bradenton and High-A Greensboro. He has only struck out 18.3% of the time with a respectable 9.3% walk rate. Power has been Gray's calling card so far. He already has 11 home runs on the season with an isolated slugging percentage approaching .300, coming in at .280. The Pirates recently promoted Gray to High-A, and he has already hit three home runs with six total hits through his first four games.
Gray is simply one of the best-hitting minor leaguers right now. Among minor league batters with at least 150 plate appearances, he ranks second in batting average, fifth in slugging percentage, and third in OPS. He also ranks fourth in wOBA and second in wRC+. He is one of just four batters in the minor leagues right now with an OPS over 1.000, a wOBA of at least .450, and a wRC+ coming in at 175 or greater (minimum 150 plate appearances).
Gray doesn't even rank among the Pirates' top ten prospects on either MLB Pipeline or Baseball America. The former places him as the Bucs' 17th best prospect, while the latter places him at #14. Now granted, prospect rankings aren't all about performance. There is a lot more that goes into it than just how a player is doing, especially one who hasn't even reached Double-A. However, Gray is showing a handful of traits that should earn him more praise.
Gray is making plenty of contact. His contact percentage comes in at 80.4%, and his swinging strike rate sits below 10%, at 9.4%. Gray's whiff rate at Bradenton clocked in at 22.8%. Not only does he make contact at a solid rate, but he also regularly makes good contact. He put up an 88.5 MPH exit velocity and 12.2% barrel rate at Bradenton. His xwOBA at A-Ball of .397 was the highest of any Statcast tracked A-Ball hitter with at least 150 trips to the plate.
Gray may not be a perfect prospect. He is considered a below-average runner, and his glove at third base is not considered great. However, he is still young enough to improve his defense at the hot corner. His other traits are all average or better, and in some areas, they're already in the plus territory. By mid-season, Gray should rank among the Pirates' top ten prospects, at the very least as long as he stays healthy.
