Pirates' Murf Gray bursts into pro ball with rare 30-homer campaign
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From the moment Murf Gray's 2026 season began, he's had the power stroke. That culminated in him reaching a milestone Friday that puts him in rare air among Bucs talent over the past two decades.
The Pirates’ No. 4 prospect launched a two-run homer -- his 30th of the season -- off starter Kenny Serwa (Tigers) in the third inning of Double-A Altoona’s 9-4 loss to Erie at Peoples Natural Gas Field. Gray sandwiched the homer in between a pair of run-producing outs with a sacrifice fly in the first and a groundout in the seventh for a three-RBI night.
MLB’s No. 94 prospect becomes just the fourth Pirates prospect since 2005 to reach 30 long balls in a season joining Mason Martin with 35 in 2019, Andrew Lambo with 32 in 2013 and Steve Pearce with 31 in 2007.
“It feels amazing," Gray said. "I didn’t expect to hit 30 home runs, but the fact that it happened, I couldn't be more thankful. Always gotta thank God. But this season's meant a lot. Just the ups and downs throughout college, and then learning pro ball -- just being able to stay confident in myself, stay confident in the swing and I'm blessed to be a Pittsburgh Pirate. We've got a great development plan here and a great organization full of amazing players, but also amazing coaches."
Gray is now playing in his third level of his debut season, having hit his way through Single-A Bradenton (.359 average, 1.042 OPS) and High-A Greensboro (.302, .981). In his age-22 season, he's slashed .222/.390/.454 so far at Double-A in 2026.
"The first few weeks I kinda realized that teams are really just gonna hammer your weakness and try to go away from your strengths," Gray explained of making the leap to Double-A. "They don't have to pitch to your strengths at all. They don't have to flip a pitch in a certain count. They have feel for all of their pitches and they can throw them in all different counts. So I think the biggest adjustment for me is knowing that I wanna get the pitch I wanna hit, I wanna stay stubborn to my plan and not go out of that. So when they throw that junk in there, spit on that, take [my] walks and be a good hitter. Whether I get a hit or get a walk, it sets up the person behind me and then it's just a chain reaction throughout the whole lineup.”
Gray did not take the field after the 2025 Draft when Pittsburgh selected him with its Competitive Balance Round B pick (No. 73 overall) out of Fresno State, a program that has produced three-time American League MVP Aaron Judge. The third baseman capped off his collegiate career in style with a 1.037 OPS and 18 home runs in 60 games. He’s shown his ability to impact the baseball hasn’t slowed down in pro ball.
“The biggest thing is just staying consistent, staying to a plan and not trying to get too far out of that plan," Gray shared. "I feel like earlier when I got to Double-A, it was more so trying to add power when you get to places where the ball doesn't fly too much. It's not about adding power to the baseball. It's about staying to your plan and getting your 'A' swing off and letting that take care of itself.”