Ryan McKenna 2018

[ChuckS]

He's killing it.  A .452 OBP and a .967 OPS in 227 at bats.  Austin Hays in comparison (who was in the running for minor league player of the year) put up a .364 OBP and .956 OPS in a similar number of bats there last year.  

I don't recall any other O's prospect putting up numbers like this in recent memory.  I think they are going to let him be rewarded with the Carolina League All-Star game and then he will be promoted to Bowie for the second half.  

[MDtransplant757]

So when we promote him, will Zach Jarrett be coming to frederick. Holds a .842 OPS in Delmarva. 

[Legend_Of_Joey]

7 hours ago, MDtransplant757 said:

So when we promote him, will Zach Jarrett be coming to frederick. Holds a .842 OPS in Delmarva. 

I would think so, but also depends on Ring and Gassaway. Both are on the DL and if they come back soon, that outfield would we crowded. Maybe he will move up during the final week. That's when 2 or 3 players usually do.

[Luke-OH]

8 hours ago, MDtransplant757 said:

So when we promote him, will Zach Jarrett be coming to frederick. Holds a .842 OPS in Delmarva. 

Just a reminder, on this date in 2017, Jake Ring had a .943 OPS and was 8 months younger than Jarrett and had superior raw tools.

[Hank Scorpio]

McKenna is BABIP'ing a jaw dropping .432 this year.

He has also cut way down on his strikeouts, so if he continues making contact that should help mitigate the inevitable drop off. 

[Luke-OH]

20 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

McKenna is BABIP'ing a jaw dropping .432 this year.

He has also cut way down on his strikeouts, so if he continues making contact that should help mitigate the inevitable drop off. 

The BABIP will come down, but maybe not until he reaches higher levels of competition. Better defense will bring it down, but I'm not sure if it's lucky. He's hitting almost 30% line drives, not popping the ball up, and he runs an insane home to first time.

He has 16 infield hits on the season, I'm not sure how that compares around the minors, but it's more than any major league player.

[Legend_Of_Joey]

Another home run.

[Luke-OH]

At the plate 7 times in the doubleheader yesterday.

Reached base 6 times.

4-5, HR, 2B, 2 BB, 0K

[glenn__davis]

I don't recall a hitter being this insanely hot since maybe Wieters' 1st year in the minors.

[DirtyBird]

Carolina League All Star Game on June 19th. Gotta promote this kid immediately after that.

[accinfo]

41 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

Carolina League All Star Game on June 19th. Gotta promote this kid immediately after that.

One of my few highlights of this season is checking the Frederick box score every night and seeing a bad night for this kid is 2 hits.  He sure doesn't have much to prove at Frederick. It wouldn't be shocking if he did well at Bowie he could see AAA or the majors himself in Sept.  

[DirtyBird]

24 minutes ago, accinfo said:

One of my few highlights of this season is checking the Frederick box score every night and seeing a bad night for this kid is 2 hits.  He sure doesn't have much to prove at Frederick. It wouldn't be shocking if he did well at Bowie he could see AAA or the majors himself in Sept.  

I don't see any reason for that kind of push. Actually,I wouldn't want him near the potentially cancerous major league team this year.

[TheDeau52]

49 minutes ago, DirtyBird said:

I don't see any reason for that kind of push. Actually,I wouldn't want him near the potentially cancerous major league team this year.

Sadly, I agree with this. I'd be okay with him in AAA to close out the year (depending how AA goes), but Bowie would be fine too as an ending to this season.

[Frobby]

8 hours ago, accinfo said:

One of my few highlights of this season is checking the Frederick box score every night and seeing a bad night for this kid is 2 hits.  He sure doesn't have much to prove at Frederick. It wouldn't be shocking if he did well at Bowie he could see AAA or the majors himself in Sept.  

Enough of that!   We jumped Hays to the majors last year and that was a mistake.    Let’s show some patience with McKenna.    

[Oriol3s]

6 hours ago, Frobby said:

Enough of that!   We jumped Hays to the majors last year and that was a mistake.    Let’s show some patience with McKenna.    

I got to see him in action tonight in parts of a doubleheader.  Good speed, patient.  Didn't seem like he got much to swing at, but he didn't chase and got on base via walks (and HBP) several times.  Had a real nice throw to a relay that ended up getting a guy at the plate by about 10 feet.  Very nice, but I wish I got to see him swing the bat a bit more.