Athletics' Beane defends drafting Kyler Murray: 'I wouldn't take that pick back'
The Oakland Athletics have no regrets about drafting Kyler Murray, even as he drifts further away from the diamond.
Murray's plans to play baseball with the Athletics, who gave him a $4.66-million signing bonus as the ninth overall selection in last year's MLB Draft, were upended by his Heisman Trophy-winning season for Oklahoma. That led him to reverse course and declare for the NFL Draft.
The possibility of his playing both sports professionally are remote at best, so if Murray goes to the NFL, he'll leave the Athletics spurned and without any draft-pick compensation - meaning they'll have essentially wasted their top selection from last June. But that doesn't mean vice president of baseball operations Billy Beane wants a mulligan.
"He's a great kid, a phenomenal athlete, as you guys saw, and I wouldn't take that pick back for a second," Beane said in response to a question about Murray at the Athletics' FanFest on Friday, according to Ryan Gorcey of the San Francisco Examiner.
"I think we're all still very optimistic (he'll choose baseball)," Beane added. "I think what you saw on the football field is what our scouts saw from an athletic standpoint. As great a football player as he is, he's got a chance to be a great baseball player right here in Oakland."
Beane and general manager David Forst met with Murray and agent Scott Boras in Dallas earlier this month to try and sway him back to baseball. The Athletics have reportedly considered trying to offer him more guaranteed money to stay in their organization.
Murray - an outfielder who posted a .954 OPS for Oklahoma this spring - has already received an invitation to Oakland's major-league camp, where he'll wear No. 73, according to the team's website. Whether the 21-year-old will participate in the NFL Scouting Combine on Feb. 26 is unclear since he'll have to leave spring training to do so. Beane told Martin Gallegos of the Mercury News that there have been no discussions about that happening.
"As we're sitting here right now, we expect him to be in spring training," Athletics manager Bob Melvin said Friday, according to The Associated Press. "... If something changes in the meantime, then we deal with it."