Journeyman hopes to find a good home
McKinney has been getting attention in Brewers’ camp
PHOENIX – Billy McKinney can tell you a thing or two about blockbuster trades.
was just over a year into his pro career as a first-round draft pick of the Oakland Athletics in 2013 when he was told he’d be changing work addresses. He was packaged with shortstop Addison Russell and pitcher Dan Straily and sent to the
Chicago Cubs for pitchers Jason Hammel and Jeff Samardzija.
“I was 19,” said McKinney, who was drafted out of Plano West (Texas) High School. “That one was defiMcKinney
nitely a shock, especially with the team that drafted you. You always think you’re going to make the big leagues with them.
“But it’s a business. I learned that part of the game really quick.”
That lesson continued two years later when McKinney was part of another eye-popping swap. The Cubs sent him, infield prospect Gleyber Torres, righthander Adam Warren and another minor-league outfielder, Rashard Crawford, to the New York Yankees for elite closer Aroldis Chapman, who made a difference as Chicago won its first World Series in 108 years.
“That one caught me by surprise as well,” said McKinney, who is making his presence known in the Milwaukee Brewers’ camp this spring with a recent power binge.
“That was another big trade. It seems like it worked out for both sides. That’s the goal of every trade, to help each side. The Cubs got their World Series and the Yankees got the guys they wanted.”
It would be with the Yankees that McKinney made his major-league debut on March 30, 2018 against Toronto, going 1-for-4 with his first hit off Aaron Sanchez. But it was his second game in the majors the next day that left an indelible imprint, and not in a good way.
Yankees slugger Aaron Judge got the start in center that night, so McKinney was in left field when Toronto’s Josh Donaldson sent a drive to left-center on a cutter from CC Sabathia with one down in the bottom of the first inning. McKinney gave chase, and unsure of exactly where he was while going from artificial surface to rubberized warning track, ran head-first into the padded wall.
“I was so amped up, being a rookie,” McKinney said of never breaking stride. “Unfortunately, I hurt my shoulder. I wish I would have made the catch. That would have made the pain feel a little bit nicer. I was so excited to be there and play.”
McKinney never would play another game for the Yankees. After spending seven weeks on the injured list with a left shoulder sprain, he was sent to the minors to get back in playing shape. Then came what had become a familiar phone call from management. McKinney had been traded again.
In yet another trade deadline deal, he was sent to Toronto – of all places, the last city in which he had played majorleague baseball – with infielder Brandon Drury for left-hander J.A. Happ.
“One of my hitting coaches said the Blue Jays were looking for my (medical) records,” McKinney recalled. “I said, ‘No way I’m getting traded again.’ It was a doubleheader that day. After the first game, my manager (at Class AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre) took me out. In mid-game of the second game, I found out I was traded. I was surprised but that’s all part of the journey.”
After playing in 36 games with the Blue Jays that season, McKinney was given a bigger chance to prove himself in 2019. He made his first opening day roster and had four stints with Toronto, batting .215 in 84 games with 12 home runs and 28 runs batted in, shuffling back and forth from Class AAA Buffalo to the big leagues.
That shuttle continued last year for McKinney, this time from the Blue Jays’ alternate training site in Rochester, N.Y., and Buffalo, where Toronto played “home” games because of pandemic restrictions in Canada. Again, he went back and forth four times, but playing in only two games in the majors this time.
“Last year was tough,” McKinney said. “I had an option and the team has a right to use it. So, I was on the option train all year. It was a frustrating year, but it was a learning experience. I just tried to get better every day.
“(The alternate training site) was something you’d never been through. You had to take it day by day and get used to your surroundings and routine. It was a different game, basically, coming in at certain times and doing testing and all that.
“When you get on the ball field, it’s always baseball. That was the nice thing, just getting between the lines and just playing the game.”
In mid-September, reliever Ken Giles was activated from the 60-day DL – he later would undergo Tommy John reconstructive elbow surgery – and the Blue Jays needed an opening on the 40man roster. They designated McKinney for assignment, and he was claimed off waivers by the Brewers.
“I had some talks with our GM (Ross Atkins),” McKinney said. “I wanted to have a chance elsewhere and he was cool enough to give me a shot to be picked up by the Brewers, a great organization. I left Buffalo and went to Milwaukee, but it was so close to the end of the season and I had to quarantine and all that.
“I came out to the ballpark and got in some batting practice, got to meet the guys. That was cool. Coming to camp here, having met all the guys, I wasn’t completely in the dark. That helped.”
So, here McKinney is. This time, he’s out of minor-league options, leaving the Brewers to put him on their opening day roster or possibly lose him through waivers.
He got off to a very slow start with only three hits in 23 at-bats (.130) over his first 11 games but then flipped the power switch.
McKinney homered Thursday in the Brewers’ 3-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, sending a blast to right-center that smacked off the scoreboard at Tempe’s Diablo Stadium. On Friday, he homered in consecutive at-bats at American Family Fields of Phoenix, driving in four runs to spark a 9-3 comeback over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
With three home runs in two games, McKinney’s spring slugging percentage soared to .679.
“Credit to him and what he’s doing,” manager Craig Counsell said. “He comes into a camp and knows he has to show his best to make a club, and that’s what he’s doing.”
The question is this: Is there a roster spot for McKinney to win? There appears to be one opening for a position player, with another slugger, first baseman Daniel Vogelbach, in the picture. With the addition of Gold Glove centerfielder Jackie Bradley Jr., after camp opened, the Brewers could opt to go with four outfielders and an infielder/ outfielder such as Daniel Robertson as insurance.
McKinney knows the decision-makers are going to do what they’re going to do. All he has in his power is making it extremely difficult to send him packing without regrets.
“That’s out of my hands,” he said. “The only thing that’s in my hands is how I play on the field. That’s my goal – stay focused on my play, do well and show them I can help the team. Help the team win any way possible, whether it’s on defense, the base paths or hitting. Whatever I can do.
“Being in so many organizations, I’ve been through the wringer. The Brewers are doing anything they can to get better, anyway, anyhow. I respect that. I’m trying to show what I have. I’m starting to get into a rhythm, which is nice. Hopefully, just keep going up from here. That’s the goal, to get better every day.”
McKinney wouldn’t mind if his name stays off the transactions list for the immediate future.