HOME RUN DERBY CHAMP

• In 1997, at age 16, he won the Connie Mack World Series home run derby.
• In 2002, he won the Cape Cod League home run derby.
• In 2004, Murton added the title of the Florida State League home run derby champion at the league's all-star game.
• In 2000, as a senior at Eagles Landing High School, Murton set a bunch of records, hitting .551 with 11 home runs, 41 RBI, 12 doubles, 49 hits, and 34 walks. He also lettered 3 years as a small forward on the basketball team, and he was an Honor Roll student.

• In 2001, Murton was a Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball Freshman All American baseball player from Georgia Tech.

  He then had a highly successful summer with the Wareham Gatemen of the Cape Cod League, helping his team to the league championship. He earned the Pat Sorenti Award as the league MVP and was tabbed as the Cape’s No. 3 prospect by Baseball America. 

  Matt hit .324, second in the league, and led the summer collegiate league with 28 RBI and was 19-for-19 on stolen base attempts.

• The McDonough, Georgia native hit .338 (222-for-657) with 30 home runs and 149 RBIs over three seasons for Georgia Tech.

  As a junior in 2003, he batted .301 (74-for-246) with 13 home runs, 56 RBIs and 19 stolen bases in 62 games, scoring 64 runs while posting a .403 on-base percentage and .524 slugging percentage.

• His major at Georgia Tech: Management.
• Matt likes to play tennis, golf, and basketball.
• Murton is a real gamer. He has the mental and physical ability to be a complete player, along with a superb work ethic. He has excellent instincts for baseball.
• He likes popular Christian music. "In 2002, I came across this 'Praise' CD, and I found this song ('My Live is in You Lord') that just really relaxes me," Matt said. "The song's lyrics really describe my faith basis. It gives me a calm assurance."

• During the off-season before 2004 spring training, Baseball America rated Murton as the #5 prospect in the Red Sox' organization.

  In the spring of 2005, the magazine had Murton at 11th-best in the Cubs' farm system.

• During the off-season before 2004 spring camp, Matt worked out at the same facility as fellow Georgia Tech alum Nomar Garciaparra at the Athletes Performance Institute in Tempe, Arizona. He also worked a good deal with minor league hitting coordinator Orv Franchuk.

  “Matt continues to work hard on adding more rhythm to his swing and increasing his overall flexibility,” Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein said. “He has worked very hard and made great strides in these areas. Matt is both smart and tough, and he cares about the way he plays the game. He’s a thinking-man’s player who also works extremely hard to improve his game.”

• Murton is a solid teammate. He is thankful he is a pro baseball player.

• During the 2005 season, Matt wore two light blue charity bracelets on his wrist. One read, "Believe" and had the familiar Chicago Cubs "C" right next to it. The other, in light blue, read "Godstrong."

• Matt's excellent work ethic keeps him from going into long slumps. He is an intense competitor who drives himself to improve.

• After the 2005 season, in the Arizona Fall League, Murton hit .337 with a homer, 11 doubles, and 14 RBIs.

• In 2010, Murton became a star in Japan with the Hanshin Tigers. He broke the Nippon Professional Baseball record for hits in a season. The previous mark of 210 hits had stood for 16 years, having been set by Ichiro Suzuki of the Orix Blue Wave in 1994. Matt finished the season with 214 hits. And he showed more power than he had in the United States, hitting 17 home runs.

• While in Japan, Murton broke Ichiro's single season hits record in 2010, when he hit .310/.354/.438 with the Tigers, picking up another batting title in 2014 along the way, and became the fifth-fastest player to reach 1,000 hits in the league.

  Matt was intrigued when offered an opportunity to restart his career in Japan, where he'd get to play every day. So the family packed up for Japan, where he'd play for the Hanshin Tigers.

  But there were times Murton struggled to adjust to the different lifestyle and constant media scrutiny. He even came under fire for blowing a bubble on the field during a game. The move, more than common in the U.S., is seen as disrespectful in Japan.

  "You're under the microscope every day," Matt said. "Every at=bat is being scrutinized. Every play you make is being scrutinized."

  He spent six years in Japan, then returned to the U.S. in 2016. He had several options, but decided to go with the Cubs, where he had become a fan favorite years earlier. (Tommy Birch - Vine Line - August, 2016)

  TRANSACTIONS

• June 2003: Red Sox scout Rob English signed Murton to his first pro contract.

• July 31, 2004: The Cubs acquired Murton, along with Nomar Garciaparra and cash, from the Red Sox. They sent 1B Doug Mientkiewicz, infielders Alex Gonzalez and Brendan Harris, and P Francis Beltran to Boston, as part of a blockbuster 4-team trade.

• July 8, 2008: The A's sent pitchers Rich Harden and Chad Gaudin to the Cubs, acquiring Murton, P Sean Gallagher, and minor leaguers Eric Patterson and Josh Donaldson.

• February 4, 2009: The Rockies sent INF Cory Wimberly to the A's, acquiring Murton.

• December 7, 2009: The Rockies released Matt.

• 2010: Murton signed with the Hanshin Tigers of Japan.

• February 4, 2016: Murton was coming home. After spending six seasons with the Hanshin Tigers of the NPB, Murton is returning to his first Major League team: The Cubs. The team signed the fiery-haired outfielder on a Minor League deal, bringing him back to the organization where he found his greatest Major League success. 
  
  
• Feb 20, 2017: The Tigers signed free agent Matt

• Matt's short, direct stroke is a fine one for putting up offensive numbers. He has good power from his quick bat. He does better when he doesn't try to pull the ball, letting his power come naturally. And even when he doesn't get all of the ball he can hit some towering shots.
• Murton has a good eye and displays good technique at the plate, working pitchers into a hitter's count. He has the ability to make both physical and mental adjustments from at-bat to at-bat. He is able to hit pitches on either side of the plate. When he swings, with his great discipline, he makes contact. He only swings at strikes.
  
  "It's important to get good pitches to hit, and when I'm swinging well I'm keeping my hands in and using the whole field," Matt said. "A lot of my home runs are from right-center to left-center, but I'll turn on the ball, too. You have to adjust to where the pitch is."

• Matt is a big guy, reminding some of Greg Luzinski and others of Jeff Conine. Murton might be a bit more athletic than either of them, however.

• Murton bats from a crouch and displays a strong, short, quick stroke that generates great bat speed. He has very few holes in his swing.

• Boston makes all of its players in Class A or below keep notebooks on hitting, something Murton already did on his own, back when he was in their organization. (BA 01/04)

• Cubs minor league hitting coach Von Joshua thinks much of Murton and insists his power will increase.
  
  "He stays on top of the ball real well, he uses the whole field very, very well and he's very patient at the plate," said Joshua, the former hitting coach for the White Sox. "He's probably the most disciplined hitter that I've ever worked with, outside of maybe Magglio Ordonez."

• Matt's batting style reminds some scouts of a young Paul Molitor. He has that short, compact stroke without a lot of lower-body movement. The ball explodes off his bat to both the left field and right field power alleys.
  
  But Murton is the type of hitter who is always tinkering with his swing.
  
  
  BREAKDOWN VS. RIGHTIES AND LEFTIES

• In 2006, this righty batter hit .301 with 6 home runs in 136 at-bats against lefthanded pitchers, and .295 with 7 home runs in 319 at-bats vs. righthanders.
  
  

• In 2007, Matt hit .319 with 3 home runs in 91 at-bats vs. lefties, and .257 with 5 home runs in 144 at-bats against righthanded pitching.

• Murton's only below average tool is his lack of arm strength. It makes him a left fielder, but he is a great outfielder. He runs well, covering a lot of ground in left field.
• During 2007 spring training, Matt worked with coach Mike Quade on his defense.

  "One of the things we wanted to address was my release time on my throws," Murton said. "You want to be around 1.3 [seconds] from glove to release, and I was probably standard 1.5, 1.6, and on certain throws I've gotten down to 1.1."

  The clock starts from the point of picking up the ground ball to getting rid of it, Murton said. Quade has tried to eliminate some of the steps to cut down on the time as well as work on his jumps and footwork. You don't want to sacrifice accuracy for speed.

  "That's the concern—you don't want to go too fast to where you lose anything behind your throw or accuracy," Murton said. "So long as you can keep your accuracy and velocity behind the ball, you'll be fine."
  (Carrie Muskat-MLB.com-3/25/07)

• Matt has good instincts for the game.

• Murton is a good runner with above-average speed. He gets more than his share of infield hits. When he chops a ball, he can beat it out. That speed enables him to get a lot of extra-base hits other guys can't leg out.

• 2002: Matt broke his right middle finger during an infield workout while trying out for Team USA.

• March 2-April 18, 2016: Murton underwent an appendectomy. He spent the first two weeks of the season on the D.L./rehab.

  May 3-19, 2016: Matt was on the D.L. with a strained oblique.
  July 25, 2016: Murton was on the D.L. with a strained  right quad.