Chicago Cubs Minor League Recap: Pete Crow-Armstrong and Owen Caissie dominate

Bounceback Candidate

BJ Murray 

3B

.095/.174/.095 11 K, 2 BB, 0 XBH

Oof. That is not the stat line you want to see from the player that just about a month ago we said could wind up being the best of all the prospects in this loaded system. 

That being said, he’s at his lowest right now and has the ability and skill to bounce back in a very big way.

There is a lot of thunder in his bat. In 2023 he had 54 extra-base hits and in 2022 he led all Chicago Cubs prospects in OBP with a .410 on-base percentage. 

The strongest factor working in his favor though, may be that he can play third base. At the time of writing this piece, Christopher Morel has three errors in seven chances at third base which gives him an incredibly bad .571 fielding percentage. Beyond that, Patrick Wisdom is still on the injured list and the jury is out on Nick Madrigal.

If Craig Counsell were to stop utilizing the DH position as a means to get guys rest in the field and instead utilize Morel’s bat there without having to deal with the growing pains associated with his glove at third base, then Murray would definitely have a path to playing time at the highest level.

He’s just got to get himself back on track at the dish, which all prior evidence seems to point to being a reasonable expectation.

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