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Ryan McKenna 2018

Luke-OH

By Luke-OH
in Minors

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MDtransplant757 Hangout Grand Counsel

MDtransplant757

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20 hours ago, Luke-OH said:

He made a swing adjustment around midseason last year (he was .800+ OPS in the second half), then has tweaked it again this season. He's holding his hands lower and is more direct to the ball, allowing him to foul off tough pitches rather than swing through them. There also appears to be an improvement in his batting eye and zone judgement, both of which could just be a result of letting the ball travel further (due to the more direct bat path). Also he has posted faster home to first times and his arm looks stronger, so perhaps he was dealing with some undisclosed nagging injuries last season.

From how his OBP looked, it appears that he knew the strike zone very well and that was never an issue. Thank you for the update. 

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Luke-OH Hangout Grand Counsel

Luke-OH

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14 minutes ago, MDtransplant757 said:

From how his OBP looked, it appears that he knew the strike zone very well and that was never an issue. Thank you for the update. 

I don’t mean to be nitpicking here, but this is an extremely important point that I need to make regarding what you can and cannot ascertain from scouting a statline.

As I wrote in my report on Ryan McKenna last year, he had a “patient” approach. What does that mean? That just means he would take a lot of pitches. A high walk rate is not an indicator (especially in the low minor) of a good eye, or good zone judgement. There are enough Ofelky Peraltas in the low minors that if you take most counts deep, you’ll walk a bunch, but you’ll also strikeout a lot. That was McKenna last year, it improved late in the year because he’d foul off more pitches when he had 2 strikes, thanks to the shorter swing.

This season he’s being aggressive early in the count when guys throw strikes and he’s recognizing spin some and letting close pitches go, something he didn’t do before.

A MLB example is Chris Davis, he walked 11% of the time last year and 8% this year, does anyone think he has a good batting eye at this point? No, he’s just not swinging and hoping. 

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Tony-OH Hangout Grand Counsel

Tony-OH

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19 hours ago, Legend_Of_Joey said:

If the awards were given out today, would he be your Minor League Player of the Year?

He would certainly be in the lead unless we decided to allow a former big leaguer in Corban Joseph to get in the race. 

Among pitchers Michael Baumann and Zac Lowther are battling it out.

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bobmc Hangout Grand Counsel

bobmc

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1 hour ago, Frobby said:

Maybe he meant Mookie Wilson - still a pretty good player.   

Yeah that works!  Just the name, the speed, the great hope....we had the "next ARod" and Matusz was the "next Cole Hamels".  Why not?

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ChuckS Hangout Grand Counsel

ChuckS

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3 for 4 so far today with a home run.  

He's hitting as well as Austin Hays was last year at a slightly younger age.  Less power but better OBP.  He's also a true CF prospect with elite speed.  The argument could be made right now that he's the better prospect. 

I think he is for real.  I have him in my organizational top 5 right now with the potential to be at # 1 or # 2 by the end of the season.  He's made tremendous strides over the last year.  He's going to force a mid-season promotion to Bowie if he keeps it up.  

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