Griffin Murphy

As the 2010 spring season opened, Murphy quickly established himself as the premier lefthander in the Southern California prep ranks, and he joins Dylan Covey in San Diego's recruiting class. Strong and durable, in both frame and pitching style Murphy resembles Angels lefty Joe Saunders. While not a flamethrower, Murphy likes to establish his 89-92 mph fastball early in a game and work his other pitches off of it. He shows an uncanny knack for manipulating his fastball--he can run it in, run it away, sink it or turn it over. Few lefties can succeed without a quality curveball, and Murphy has one. His sweeping, 75 mph bender exhibits fine shape and two-plane movement, but he needs to work the curve down in the strike zone more consistently. Mechanically solid, Murphy loads up well on his back hip and does a fine job of accelerating his arm at release. A fast worker, he may benefit from slowing his motion down a shade and by improving his leg drive. Murphy's size (6-foot-3, 195 pounds), stuff and pitching smarts could easily push him up into the first two rounds.