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Physical Description: Athletic
frame with some remaining projection. Looks bigger than listed.
Average lower half, medium build.
Mechanics:
Throws from a low three-quarters arm slot, starting on the third
base side of the rubber. Takes two small steps before a medium
leg kick. Drives towards the plate with a big stride and gets
plus extension. Left leg kicks up on follow-through, can tend to
fall off towards third base post-delivery. Quick, compact arm
action. Slight arm hook with some effort behind. Does not
consistently finish delivery and can lose release point at
times.
Fastball: 90-94 mph. Tops out at
96 mph. Works all over the zone. Command needs work. Especially
to the glove side. Much more comfortable locating arm-side at
present. May have over-relied on his fastball in college.
Potential average pitch.
Changeup: 80-82
mph. Pitch shows late fade down and away from right-handed
hitters. Thrown with deceptive arm speed. Will throw in any
count. Inconsistent with his release of the pitch at times. Has
improved significantly since he joined the organization.
Potential average pitch.
Curveball:
73-75 mph. Deep, 1-to-7 break. Has some feel for spin, but does
not consistently get over the ball. When he does, shows the
ability to backdoor it for a strike or induce swinging strikes
out of the zone. Potential average pitch. |
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Slider: 80-84 mph. More horizontal with shorter
break. Pitch is tighter than his curveball. Potential
below-average pitch.
Career Notes: Not
drafted out of high school, but was recruited by several top
Division I colleges in California. Played for Brewster in the
Cape Cod League in 2018, struggling with control issues. Had a
fairly impressive junior season at San Diego, despite walking
more than 6 batters per 9 innings. Then-pitching crosschecker
Chris Mears strongly advocated for the Red Sox to select Murphy
in the 2019 Draft. Cut down on walks dramatically after signing,
apparently immediately fixing the one issue the kept him from
being selected earlier in the draft, reportedly thanks to minor
mechanical tweaks. Participated in Fall Instructional League in
2019 and 2020.
Summation: Ceiling of a
back-end starter with an intriguing four-pitch mix. Needs to
show that his drastic improvement in his control after signing
was legitimate to stick as a starter. Misses a lot of bats, but
pitch counts may prevent him from going deep into games. Could
also develop into a high-leverage reliever if starting does not
work out.
Links
State of the System: Low Minors Pitchers (4.2.20)
Scouting Report Update (8.12.2020)
Scout Chatter (11.30.2020) |
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