12 year old baseball phenom tells Pirates “Dont bother drafting me.”

Danny Murray, bottom row, third from the right, with his team.

12 year old pitching phenom Danny Murray obviously has a bit of growing and maturing to do before he reaches the major leagues, but he knows one thing for sure– he doesn’t want to play for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  “I’m telling you right now, the Pirates better not draft me.  I won’t sign with them,” Murry says.   The young Murray resides in the Pittsburgh suburb of Penn Hills and is a starting pitcher for The Primanti Brothers Panthers of the local youth little league.  He has a record of 10-0 this season, with a minuscule ERA of 0.23.  He has garnered national attention from major league scouts since the age of 10, having thrown 8 no hitters over the last 2 years.  “Danny is the best pitcher I’ve ever had,” says his manager Craig Gyergyo.  “I’d run him out there every game if his arm could take it.”

Many scouts have said that Murray could be an early-mid first round pick this year if he chose to enter the draft and his stock will assuredly continue to rise. “I’m not sure what I’m going to do.  I’ll have to ask my mom,” Murray says.  “We were gonna go to Disney World, so I’ll see.”  So why would he not want to play for his hometown team?  “The Pirates just stink.  They’d just end up trading me to the Mets or Braves anyway,” Murray responds.  “I’d rather play for the Nationals.”

Murray’s agent Scott Boras says he hopes the Pirates respect his client’s wishes.  “Obviously the Pirates will have a high draft pick whenever Danny decides to enter the draft.  We hope they will pass and draft a middle reliever or something,”  Boras says.   Pirates GM Neal Huntington says that, “Danny is on our radar, but being that he is a Scott Boras client, he will probably be out of our price range.”  When he does get drafted, Murray is expected to command a signing bonus in excess of $10 million.

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