Ryan McKenna 2018

[Luke-OH]

2 hours ago, Frobby said:

Depends what you mean by “this.”   If he does at Bowie what he did at Frederick (.377/.467/.556), then he’d be a very strong candidate for the top spot.   But let’s say he’s more like .310/.420/.440, or less.   That would be a tougher call.   And of course, I’m just looking at numbers.   I’d still want to here what Tony, Luke and others have to say about how they think his skills will translate as he moves up.   

The biggest question for me is whether he keeps hitting for enough power to maintain a solid BB rate. If not, that puts pressure on the hit tool. The BABIP will come down against MLB fielding.

[NCRaven]

Looks like he's been missing in action for a couple of games.  Anything up?

[Luke-OH]

5 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

Looks like he's been missing in action for a couple of games.  Anything up?

One game off, he went 1-3 with a walk last night.

[NCRaven]

10 hours ago, Luke-OH said:

One game off, he went 1-3 with a walk last night.

Thx!

[webbrick2010]

On ‎6‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 4:52 PM, Luke-OH said:

The biggest question for me is whether he keeps hitting for enough power to maintain a solid BB rate. If not, that puts pressure on the hit tool. The BABIP will come down against MLB fielding.

The biggest question for me is whether he can play a plus defensive center field, the Orioles desperately need OF'ers who can run, catch and throw. They have zero on the 25 man.

[Luke-OH]

2 minutes ago, webbrick2010 said:

The biggest question for me is whether he can play a plus defensive center field, the Orioles desperately need OF'ers who can run, catch and throw. They have zero on the 25 man.

He definitely has the tools to play a plus defensive CF, he's not polished defensively yet though and I'd imagine he'd be around average at the moment. He's faster than anyone the Orioles have on the 25 man roster by probably a whole grade at least.

[NCRaven]

Do either of Mullins or McKenna profile well in a corner outfield position?

[Luke-OH]

1 minute ago, NCRaven said:

Do either of Mullins or McKenna profile well in a corner outfield position?

McKenna would be the fastest COF in the majors. He has enough arm to man either spot, but it's not a gun and would be better in LF than RF.

Mullins profiles extremely well in LF defensively, IMO. His fringe average arm looks better there and he's a really good route runner with quickness and body control.

[NCRaven]

Do their bats play in COF positions, particularly their power tools?

[Luke-OH]

12 minutes ago, NCRaven said:

Do their bats play in COF positions, particularly their power tools?

Mullins has the power for a corner (although not the prototypical corner pop), his question is does he make enough quality contact (specifically he hits a bunch on pop ups) if his K rate increases and BB rate decreases in the majors (which often happens). It'll be a defense heavy profile though. 

McKenna, the verdict is still out on whether he has enough power to profile in a corner. It's not MLB average power though, maybe fringe average (45). His swing is more of a line-drive type swing, which honestly fits his tool profile.  If he's a COF, it'll be a nontraditional profile.

[NCRaven]

Very much appreciated!

[Hallas]

10 hours ago, Luke-OH said:

He definitely has the tools to play a plus defensive CF, he's not polished defensively yet though and I'd imagine he'd be around average at the moment. He's faster than anyone the Orioles have on the 25 man roster by probably a whole grade at least.

Bit of a side topic, but can you shine some light on the grading system for speed?  I'm just curious, because you mentioned that he's faster than any current O's by a whole grade.  I would have presumed that Gentry is a 60-65 on a 20-80 scale, given that he's 39th out of 468 on statcast sprint speed.  But it gets muddy because Ronald Acuna and Harrison Bader are listed as 60 by Fangraphs, but they are #7 and #3, respectively, in statcast sprint speed.  I would have assumed that Byron Buxton/Billy Hamilton territory is 75 minimum.

[Luke-OH]

1 hour ago, Hallas said:

Bit of a side topic, but can you shine some light on the grading system for speed?  I'm just curious, because you mentioned that he's faster than any current O's by a whole grade.  I would have presumed that Gentry is a 60-65 on a 20-80 scale, given that he's 39th out of 468 on statcast sprint speed.  But it gets muddy because Ronald Acuna and Harrison Bader are listed as 60 by Fangraphs, but they are #7 and #3, respectively, in statcast sprint speed.  I would have assumed that Byron Buxton/Billy Hamilton territory is 75 minimum.

I’m not sure how fast he is by sprint speed, and it may be the case that his top end speed isn’t as fast as some of those taller guys, but he’s a 80 by home to first times. Anything under 4s from the RH batters box is an 80, I have him around 3.9 multi times, for comparison Cedric Mullins isn’t even under 4 from the LH side, which is generally a tenth quicker and he’s quite fast.

[Hallas]

On 6/29/2018 at 6:27 PM, Luke-OH said:

I’m not sure how fast he is by sprint speed, and it may be the case that his top end speed isn’t as fast as some of those taller guys, but he’s a 80 by home to first times. Anything under 4s from the RH batters box is an 80, I have him around 3.9 multi times, for comparison Cedric Mullins isn’t even under 4 from the LH side, which is generally a tenth quicker and he’s quite fast.

Interesting.  Home-to-First has some variance because some players have a longer swing follow-through.  Although being really fast helps.

Not that you asked, but there were 5 RH players 3.95 or under according to this list from 2016. Buxton, who's the fastest by statcast sprint speed, was at 3.96.  So if his 3.9 holds up he'd pretty much be the fastest RH player in the majors out of the box.

Side note: It'd sure be nice if statcast included home-to-first times on competitive plays....

[Frobby]

18 hours ago, Hallas said:

 

Side note: It'd sure be nice if statcast included home-to-first times on competitive plays....

If you run under 4.0, they’re all competitive plays.