To answer the most pressing question, after missing the last the season and a half of action recovering from Tommy John surgery and failed bid to return for the Astros' 2024 home stretch, newly claimed White Sox reliever Penn Murfee says he's healthy.
"I think about a Michael Jordan quote: I feel like I never lose, I just run out of time, and that's how I felt this year," Murfee said in a phone call from his offseason home in Tennessee. "Mentally, I have the confidence to reach back and absolutely rip the shit out of the baseball. That's a great feeling to have."
Murfee's Baseball Reference page only will show a single minor league rehab outing on Aug. 15, which he didn't feel he recovered well from for what he now terms as a muscular issue, since a subsequent MRI confirmed his confidence his ligament was fine. But he was throwing live bullpens in October on the off chance the Astros would tap him into their bullpen mix during their playoff run, and has kept playing catch three times per week in the offseason.
A funky low-slot right-hander who primarily rides his high-70s sweeper to success, Murfee credits finding the shape of a four-seam fastball that is effective even in the high-80s to MLB's crackdown on foreign substances in 2021. Not willing to risk a suspension as a 33rd-round pick who was a late collegiate convert to pitching, Murfee ditched his Pelican Grip and wound up finding a way to throw a four-seamer that killed the arm-side movement that hitters' eyes would normally expect from his slot. Generating reliably large chase rates, Murfee has a full season under his belt that testifies that when healthy, his distinctive attack works in the majors: a 2.99 ERA in 69⅓ innings with peripherals to match for the playoff-bound Mariners in 2022.
If you can even call that season healthy.
"Compared to 2023 and a lot of 2022 and my arm was just hanging on by threads, I have a lot of fun just throwing a baseball without pain again," Murfee said. "It makes me a lot more empathetic to people who deal with chronic pain. Because there were times I almost passed out driving my truck because I banged my elbow on the center console. That goes back to 2021 in Double-A. I was really hanging on for a while.
"But in terms of proving myself, I feel like I'm back to square one. I'm still extremely hungry. I've been out of the game for a year and a half. I haven't pitched in a big league game since July of '23. I've kind of got that hunger back in my system ... I want to come in, I want to make a team and I want to contribute to a winning ballclub. I've got some fire in my bones again. I don't think I'm going to lean too much on 'I did this in 2022, I did this in 2023.' It's not 2022 or 2023 anymore."
Murfee was college teammates with right-hander Steven Wilson (who is arbitration-eligible), and the two have already talked giddily about potentially being in the same bullpen again, but admits more thorough conversations with the team about where he'll fit in the White Sox relief mix will probably wait until the series of 40-man roster decisions that the team has to make by the end of this month. Having opened some games and entered the others anywhere between the third and 18th innings, Murfee says he's ready for any role on a Sox team that obviously lacks an established bullpen hierarchy.
This is Murfee's fourth organization since he last saw major league action in 2023, and waiver claims in early November don't always have the clearest future, even for a team that shouldn't have a big 40-man crunch. But Murfee doesn't believe his readiness will be a question mark entering spring, Brian Bannister has always avowed an affinity for stacking unique arm angles in the bullpen, and GM Chris Getz offered an endorsement of his stuff and roster versatility to reporters at the GM meetings including the Sun-Times' Daryl Van Schouwen.
“Our grades are high, we like the pitch quality, it’s a different look,” Getz said. “He has options, so we’ve got a player that can bring value to the organization.”
The 30-year-old's three remaining minor league options are reflective of a career path that makes him feel like he's been around the block for a while but is still getting started. A groin injury in college was stalling his recovery as a yeoman reliever at Vanderbilt, and Murfee converted to pitching to try to make something out of his senior year. And even then, he was pedestrian off the mound until his catch partner suggested Murfee started dropping down and throwing like he was a third baseman starting a double play.
A strong season as a 24-year-old transfer at Santa Clara made him a late-round flier for the Mariners, and despite stretches of pitching through pain and the sort of velocity that doesn't scream high-leverage reliever, Murfee's unique approach has reliably missed bats, including a career 28 percent strikeout rate in the majors.
"I talk crap to my buddies all the time who throw 100 mph: You know what's cooler than striking out guys at 100 mph? Striking them out at 88 mph. Not everybody can do that," Murfee said. "I faced a guy who had a lot of time in the big leagues and he ended up coming over to our squad at one point. One the first things he told me was 'Dude, you have the hardest frickin' 89 mph fastball I've ever seen.'"
But riding the waiver wire and ending up on a White Sox team that lost 121 games last year testifies to Murfee's point that he needs to re-establish that to the league. Feeling more range of motion since TJ, Murfee has been working on adding a changeup to his mix to add to his arsenal against left-handers, another reason beyond health to feel like he's improving. But at least for now, the biggest thing that will boost his morale is the White Sox improving.
"Winning solves every problem," Murfee said. "You can't not have fun playing winning baseball and that's how I look at it. So whatever I can do to contribute to a winning ballclub, that's what I'm going to do."
