Prospect Update I: Matt Murton

I decided that it was time to add a new column to this website. Maybe it will bring in more readers. I am going to write once a week on a Cub Prospect and how they are doing.

This week I am starting off with Matt Murton and the reason I am starting with him is because he came of in the Nomar deal and since Nomar was hurt this week I thought we should look at the other piece of the deal.
At this current moment Matt Murton is on fire in West Tennessee hitting .490/.554/.735, 4 sb's. Now I know this is only over 12 games and it is a small sample size, but Murton was a 1st round pick only 2 years ago and this is his 1st time in Double-A, so these are very encouraging signs. He is walking once every 7 at-bats while striking out once every 8 at-bats. He also hasn't committed any errors, but I do not have in-depth data on minor league defense (if you know where to get some please send me an email). Murton was not in Baseball America's Top 10 Prospects for the Cubs as he just missed out at #11, but they did have him listed as their best prospect to: hit for average and best strike-zone plate discipline. The major weakness in Murton's batting people have said was his lacking ability to hit for power. So far this season Murton has 24 hits and 7 are for extra bases (4 2b, 1 3b, 2 hr). This might now be an overwhelming amount of power, but I would say it would be acceptable if Murton can maintain a batting average over .300 and an OBP of .380.