For a 33rd-round draft pick who signed for “a candy bar and a plane ticket”, Penn Murfee doesn’t seem overly concerned with covering his name in glory.
Murfee was one of the prospects I was most excited to see in the AFL, fresh off a breakout year at Modesto where, in his first year pitching as a starter, he registered an FIP of 2.48 in the hitter-friendly California League, walking only 5.5% of batters he saw while striking out almost 30%. Murfee and I have an interview tentatively scheduled on a Tuesday, but on Sunday night I run into a national writer for Baseball America.