Meet Rule 5 Pick Noah Murdock

The first thing to know about Noah Murdock is that he is not, in fact, Rupert Murdoch. That pretty much exhausts what I knew about Murdock until this morning, but now that the A’s have made him their Rule 5 selection let’s get to know him a bit better.

Murdock was the Kansas City Royals’ 7th round pick in 2019 and he stands 6’8”. While he wasn’t on AN’s collective radar he was picked over Ryan Webb (CLE) and Bryan Magdaleno (TEX), two left-handed pitchers, who were selected by...no one.

Some basic “need to know” facts about Murdock: he is 26, split time last year between AA (24.1 IP) and AAA (38.1 IP), and relies heavily on a power sinker that averages 95.5 MPH.

What stands out about Murdock’s 63.2 IP in 2024 is the low hits allowed (43) combined with the high BB total (41). He struck out 72.

And then there’s perhaps a stat that caught the attention of the A’s brass. In those 63.2 IP Murdock did not allow a HR. For his MiLB career he has allowed a HR only every 14.5 IP.

At 26, having already pitched for half a season at AAA, Murdock checks the box of being ready to join a big league bullpen as a player that must stay on the roster all season or be returned to KC. Most likely he will open the season in a low leverage role and try to force his way into higher and higher leverage use.

The knock on Murdock, across multiple scouting reports and seen on the stat sheet, is his lack of control. The A’s have been loading up on pitchers with big time stuff and little command of it, so far being frustrated by Joe Boyle, and in a much smaller sample Will Klein, but seeing surprisingly good returns on Tyler Ferguson and Michel Otañez.

The A’s clearly believe they can work with this type of pitcher and have seen at least some successes, so my first inclination is to trust that the A’s made a wise choice they feel they can mold into an effective contributor. Certainly the Mitch Spence pick proved to be a good one and there’s no doubt Murdock has good stuff.

That being said, the inability to throw strikes and the inability to locate with precision gets exposed quickly in the big leagues. So if there’s a mechanical tweak, or repeatability trick, the A’s can tap into great — and if Murdock just isn’t gifted with the skill of precision he might be packing his bags back to Missouri.

May he do great things.