| Tip | Odds | Bookie | Sign-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Murray Next Team: Raiders Next Team | @6/5 |  |
£ 30 |
| Murray to Start Week 1 Season Props | @3/4 |  |
£ 20 |
Murray's Baseball Pedigree and What Scouts Said
The question surfaces every time Kyler Murray's NFL future comes into doubt: could the former baseball prodigy actually make it work on the diamond? This week, with the Arizona Cardinals releasing Murray and his football future genuinely uncertain, the conversation has moved from hypothetical to almost plausible.
Murray was selected ninth overall by the Oakland Athletics in the 2018 MLB Draft before choosing football. At the time, scouts were effusive — a switch-hitting outfielder with plus speed, above-average arm strength, and the bat-to-ball ability that tends to survive significant absences from competitive play. He never played a professional baseball game.
The Oakland A's are now the Sacramento Athletics, and their current general manager, Derrick Chang, was asked directly about Murray's hypothetical availability during a media session on Wednesday. His response was measured but not dismissive: 'We evaluate anyone with that kind of athletic profile. I'd be lying if I said nobody's thought about it.'
The Realistic Assessment of a Baseball Return
The baseball world's honest assessment is more complicated. At 28, Murray would be attempting to make a professional debut in a sport he has not played competitively since his freshman year at Oklahoma in 2018-19. The gap is significant — not impossible to bridge, but the track record of elite athletes who return to baseball after extended football careers is not encouraging.
Bo Jackson is the obvious reference point, and Bo Jackson was a generational outlier. Deion Sanders played both sports simultaneously at the highest level and was exceptional at neither by the standards of an elite specialist.
Murray's tools — speed, hand-eye coordination, arm — are theoretically preserved. Whether the baseball-specific skills, the pitch recognition, the instincts built through thousands of at-bats, can be recovered is another matter entirely. The A's GM's non-dismissal has generated noise. Whether it leads anywhere is a different question.