Yanks Select John Ryan “J.R.” Murphy In 2nd Round Of 2009 Draft

More on J.R. Murphy via the Bradenton Herald -

This time last year, J.R. Murphy figured his future was set.

He had verbally committed to the University of Miami, which meant everything to a kid who had long dreamed of playing baseball for the Hurricanes.

Besides, he had family in Miami. He liked the players. He liked the coaches.

Now, everything has gone haywire — albeit in a good way.

Born and raised in Bradenton, Murphy has become one of the most highly touted high school baseball players in the country. He just capped his senior season at The Pendleton School at IMG Academies by putting up numbers fit for a PlayStation game: a .627 batting average, 11 home runs, 66 RBIs and 34 extra-base hits in 102 at-bats.

Consequently, Murphy spent the fall and spring playing in front of roughly 20 major-league scouts per game. On Tuesday, he’ll be sitting at home, watching the Major League Baseball 2009 First-Year Player Draft and waiting to hear his name.

Chances are, it’ll be called pretty quickly. Baseball America ranks Murphy as the fifth-best catching prospect in the country, estimating he could go in the supplemental round sandwiched between the draft’s first two rounds. The publication also ranked Murphy’s strike-zone judgment second overall among high school baseball players.

“I never knew there’d be this much hype,” he said. “It’s been pretty exciting.”

The same thing can be said for this past week. Murphy flew to Kansas City to workout with the Royals on Tuesday, worked out for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday at Pirate City and did the same for the New York Yankees on Saturday in Tampa.

Oh, and he graduated from high school Friday.

“It’s been crazy,” said Murphy, who has also worked out for the Texas Rangers, “but I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

Baseball America praises Murphy’s compact swing, bat speed and plate coverage, while Sharp estimated the lefty took about five bad swings all year.

“We had the same scouts coming out over and over,” Sharp said, “just to be here to see if he ever took a bad swing.”

Now comes the time for Murphy to make a decision, and he did say money will play a role in deciding if he will head to the pro ranks or to college.

But he doesn’t feel any pressure.

“It’s a win-win situation for me,” he said. “I still have the University of Miami. I love the players and I love the coaches.

“I’m kind of anxious. But either way, I’m pretty excited.”

It’s interesting to see Murphy go before the other hyped H.S. catching prospects Max Stassi and Will Myers. (Stassi wasn’t taken by anyone in the first three rounds of the draft and Myers went at #91 to the Royals.)

This is not a terrible pick. It will cost the Yankees to buy out the option to go to the University of Miami. And, the Yankees have three decent catching prospects in their system already. The trick will be to sign the kid – because the Yankees cannot afford to whiff at this pick, given that they only had two semi-decent picks in this weak draft.

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