Baseball America – July 02, 2019

21

MAIN: Tigers

righthander

Matt Manning

showed big

stuff in a

Double-A

breakthrough

season.

SIDE: Orioles

righthander

Grayson

Rodriguez (top)

and Mets short-

stop Ronny

Mauricio were

two low Class

A prospects

with serious

helium.

MID

SEA

SON

TOP

No. Player Pos Team

51. Andres Gimenez SS Mets


52. Nick Madrigal 2B White Sox


53. Vidal Brujan 2B Rays


54. Kyle Wright RHP Braves


55. Triston McKenzie RHP Indians


56. Hunter Greene RHP Reds


57. Brent Honeywell RHP Rays


58. Grayson Rodriguez RHP Orioles


59. Jazz Chisholm SS D-backs


60. Luis Garcia SS Nationals


61. Corbin Martin RHP Astros


62. Bryse Wilson RHP Braves


63. Oneil Cruz SS Pirates


64. Tony Santillan RHP Reds


65. Elehuris Montero 3B Cardinals


66. Nolan Jones 3B Indians


67. Ryan Mountcastle 1B Orioles


68. Ryan Weathers LHP Padres


69. Yusniel Diaz OF Orioles


70. Ronny Mauricio SS Mets


71. Logan Allen LHP Padres


72. Colton Welker 3B Rockies


73. Tyler Freeman SS Indians


74. Victor Victor Mesa OF Marlins


75. Jose Suarez LHP Angels

THE LIST

Cont.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 25

Though to be fair, McKay is the only one who has
had to develop as both a hitter and a pitcher.
A two-way standout at Louisville when he was
drafted fourth overall in 2017, McKay has contin-
ued to get reps at the plate, though he has migrat-
ed from first baseman to DH this season.
That’s because it is McKay’s pitching that has
the potential to make him a star once he reaches
Tampa Bay.
If it weren’t for his continued offensive devel-
opment, some evaluators believe McKay might
already be pitching at Tropicana Field.
“He’s not (Shohei) Ohtani. He has a feel to hit,
but there is major league impact there on the
mound,” one scout said. “He can impact a major
league roster right now on the bump.”
And while McKay won’t light up a radar gun like
Mize, Gore and Pearson, his command is the best
of the bunch. He uses a four-pitch mix aggressive-
ly and gets swings and misses both in and out of
the zone.
In fact, as of June 12, McKay’s swinging-strike
rate of 16.2 percent was better than both Gore and
Mize and trailed Pearson only slightly. So while he

might not earn 70s or 80s for any of his pitches,

he uses what he has to send hitters back to the

dugout just the same.

On June 15, he aced the biggest test of his young

career when he faced rehabbing Yankees all-stars

Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge in front of a

sellout crowd of 12,000. He held the pair hitless

in four at-bats and recorded three strikeouts,

including a sequence when he got both to stare at

curveballs for called third strikes.

“I have him with a five-pitch arsenal, all at

least average,” one scout said. “He’s a plus ath-

lete, he repeats his delivery and he has multiple

good pickoff moves. His slider is an above-aver-

age pitch. He has weapons for both handed hit-

ters, and he commands and controls them all. He

just does everything well.”

With Acuña, Soto and Ohtani all established as

stars and Guerrero, Tatis and Jimenez about to do

the same, the balance of young star power in the

big leagues has tilted toward the batter’s box. If

Gore, Pearson, Mize and McKay live up to their

potential, the pendulum might swing the other

way. n

TOP 100 PROSPECTS