Matt Murton #19

Matthew Henry Murton was originally signed by Boston scout Rob English...is married to wife, Stefani...attended Georgia Tech University...earned Freshman All-America honors from Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball in 2001...his brother, Luke, also played baseball at Georgia Tech, spend- ing much of his junior season as the designated hitter...he was selected in the 40th round of the 2007 Major League Baseball Draft by the New York Yankees, but elected to return to Georgia Tech with two years of eligibility remaining...he drafted again in 2008, in the 33rd round of the 2008 MLB Draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

2008

Entered the season with a .296 career average...was one of four players acquired from the Chicago Cubs in the Rich Harden trade prior to the All-Star Break and appeared in nine games with Oakland, going 3-for-30 (.100) with 2 RBI...also hit .250 in 19 games with the Cubs and batted .186 with no home runs and 8 RBI in 28 games overall...was 3-for-24 (.125) against left-handed pitching and 10-for- 46 (.217) against righties...hit .370 with 2 outs and .070 with one or no outs...appeared in 17 games (13 starts in LF, 2 starts in RF)...was 2-for-13 (.154) with a walk and a RBI as a pinch hitter, including 0-for-2 with Oakland...Began the season at Triple-A Iowa and hit .317 in 13 games before he was recalled by the Cubs on 4/19...went 3-for-14 (.214) with 4 RBI in eight games before he was optioned back to Iowa on 5/1...batted .293 in 41 games during his second stint at Triple-A and had a .298 average, one home run and 15 RBI in 54 games overall when he returned to Chicago for the second time on 6/17...hit .269 with 2 RBI in 11 games during his second stint, including a 2-double, 2-RBI game on 6/30 at SF...was traded to the A's on 7/8 along with Sean Gallagher, Eric Patterson and Josh Donaldson for Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin...reported to Oakland on 7/11 and started 7 of the A's next 11 games in left field before he was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento on 7/27...went 1-for-13 over his first four games, had a 2-hit game on 7/19 at NYM and then went 0-for-his-last-13 before he was sent to the minors...spent the balance of the season at Sacramento and hit .277 with a home run and 13 RBI in 32 games with the River Cats...combined for a .290 average, 2 home runs and 28 RBI in 86 games with Sacramento and Iowa...added 42 walks for a .377 on-base percentage...hit .298 (25-for-84) with both of his home runs against lefty pitchers and .287 (68-for- 237) against right-handers...his average slipped to .240 w/RISP but he was 2-for-6 (.333) with 7 RBI with the bases loaded...batted .356 at home with Iowa and had a .265 average in all other ballparks...appeared in 77 games in LF and one in RF...also was 8-for-24 (.333) as a DH and 0-for-2 as a pinch hitter...hit in every spot in the order except leadoff and 8th and saw his most action batting 3rd where he hit .318 in 61 games...had a season best 7-game hitting streak from 5/7-13 (11-for-25, .440) to lift his Iowa batting aver- age to .368...had his average as high as .362 on 5/27 before going 11-for-64 (.172) over his final 18 games with Iowa...went 5-for-28 (.179) over his first seven games with Sacramento but then went 10-for-29 (.345) over his next six games...had season-high 4 walks on 8/12 against Salt Lake...hit safely in each of his final six regular season games at Sacramento (10-for-21, .476)...appeared in just two playoff games for the River Cats, going 1-for-8 (.125) with a double and a 2 RBI...played for Caracas in the Venezuelan Winter League and batted .321 with 2 home runs and 7 RBI in 15 games...had 12 walks and a .463 OBP.

2006

In his first full season in the big leagues, Murton came cose to finishing at .300. He did rank 10th in the National League with a .330 average at home, and batted .323 with four home runs in September. On Aug. 3, he hit four doubles against Arizona. On Sept. 26, he reached base safely in five plate appearances, going 3-for-3 with two doubles and was hit by a pitch twice. Murton hit .301 against left-handers.

2003

Batted .286 in his first pro season for Lowell (A) ... reached base safely in 12 straight games July 21 to August 3, batting .372 (16-43) over the stretch ... five of those contests were multi-hit affairs ... participated in the Fall Instructional League following the season.

2004

Matt was a midseason and postseason Florida State League all-star at Sarasota (A), batting .301 in 102 games with 55 RBI ... began the season by going 3-for-4 April 8 at Ft. Myers with 2 homers, driving in 5 runs ... hit safely in 12 straight games July 13-26, going 25-for-49 (.510) with 7 RBI ... won the Home Run Derby at the Florida State League All-Star game on June 12 ... was traded to the Cubs on July 31 ... batted .253 in 24 games for Daytona (A).

2005

Matt saw his first major league action in just his third professional campaign - batted .321 in two stints with the club (July 8-August 19 and August 30-end of the season) ... made his major league debut July 8 in Florida, starting the game in left field and going 2-for-2 with a double and an RBI ... recorded his first major league hit in the contest, a single off Dontrelle Willis ... hit his first major league home run August 15 at Houston, a solo shot off Wandy Rodriguez ... homered in back-to-back games September 11-12 against San Francisco and Cincinnati - also did so September 18 and 20 against St. Louis and Milwaukee ... notched 10 multi-hit games for the Cubs - including a pair of 3-hit affairs and one 4-hit contest ... started the year at West Tenn (AA) where he batted .342 in 78 games for the Diamond Jaxx ... had 36 multi-hit games, including two 4-hit contests ... opened the season with a 15-game hitting streak, batting .492 (30-61) from April 8-April 23 with 5 doubles, 3 homers and 16 RBI over the stretch ... batted .353 in nine games for Iowa (AAA) ... reached base safely in all nine games played for the I-Cubs ... ranked ninth among all minor leaguers with a .343 combined batting average ... returned to the baseball field in the fall, playing for the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall League ... batted .337 in 24 games with 14 RBI.