Pirates Elite Prospect Is Soaring Through the Farm System

There’s been a recent trend among some of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ top prospects, and the front office hasn't hesitated to move them through the farm system quickly.

Paul Skenes, Konnor Griffin, and Bubba Chandler are perfect recent examples of this reality, and it looks like another of Pittsburgh’s highly touted minor league players is headed in the same direction.

The Pirates drafted infielder Murf Gray with the 73rd overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft. The California native didn’t make his affiliate debut until the 2026 season. That said, Gray has already reached Double-A after playing 38 games at Single-A and 43 games at High-A.

With Gray already 22 and turning 23 at the end of December, there’s no reason to slow down his progression if he’s earned it.

Of course, all of that is contingent on Gray continuing to perform at a high level, but there’s no reason to think that won’t happen. All the right-hander has done this season is hit.

Across all three levels this year, Gray owns a .300/.404/.564 slash line, including 22 doubles and 29 home runs. He’s slowed down a little bit in terms of average since reaching Double-A, but still holds a more than respectable .821 OPS.

Pirates general manager Ben Cherington noted that a lot of this success is to credit to Gray, his work ethic, and his commitment to getting better.

“I remember hearing early in the spring of 2025 when reports started coming in [from scouts] on Gray,” said the Pirates exec. “We knew he had power, but what stood out in their report was just the conviction of the human being, the conviction of what kind of worker this guy was.”

The biggest area that Cherington said Gray has made growth in this season is his swing decisions.

“We knew he was gonna make contact; he's gonna hit the ball really arc,” he continued. “Then we draft him, knowing that there's some swing decision stuff to work on… Swing decision [and] getting the ball off the ground were basically the two things that we knew that there was gains to be made in. 
He's done both of those things.”

Gray has a strikeout rate of 26.8 percent at Double-A, so there is definitely more work to be done, but as Cherington pointed out, it all comes down to growth.

If Gray stays on this same pace for the rest of the 2026 season and into 2027, there’s a good chance he could begin the next Minor League season at Triple-A and could be in line for an MLB debut at some point next spring.