Peas in a Pod: Sam Runion and Tim Murphy

Let me start off by saying that I was fully aware that RHP-Sam Runion had a “bad” season.  Until this morning, however, I wasn’t fully aware of how bad it was in relation to his peers.

After reading Baseball America’s Final Minor League Leaderboards: Pitching I now know that not only was Runion’s 6.60 ERA terrible, it was the 2nd worst ERA in all of the minors this past season.  Thankfully LHP-Tim Murphy put up a 6.80 ERA to take home the honors.

Murphy was selected by the Texas Rangers in the 3rd round of the 2008 June Draft and pitched for the High-A Bakersfield Blaze in the California League.

Runion was selected by the Royals in the 2nd round of the 2007 June Draft and pitched for the Low-A Burlington Bees in the Midwest League.

Take a gander at the pitching lines each player amassed in 135.0 innings pitched:

• Tim Murphy (22) 6.80 ERA, 1.800 WHIP, 184 H, 59 BB, and 86 SO
• Sam Runion (20) 6.60 ERA, 1.763 WHIP, 193 H, 45 BB, and 62 SO

In case you’re wondering the California League was a better offensive environment in 2009 with the league average slash stats of 0.270/.341/.417 and an average of 5.19 runs scored every 9 innings. The Midwest League had 2009 averages of 0.256/.329/.373 and an average of 4.67 runs scored every 9 innings.

So of the two, who would you rather have?