Bulls’ ace is in scouts’ spotlight
TAMPA — Somewhere inside USF Baseball Stadium this past autumn, irony routinely plopped itself down amid the dozens of scouts and scribes assembled to scrutinize lanky left-handed ace Shane McClanahan.
It might have even snickered, as if it knew something all these spellbound observers didn't. Really, did any of them have a clue that this 20-year-old — the one with the radar guns, high-speed lenses and cellular devices locked in on his every pitch — once was camera shy?
“He never liked to get his picture taken,” said McClanahan's mom, Lisa. “Sometimes they'd do opening day for Little League or something, he'd be hiding somewhere because he didn't want to get in any picture.”
Roughly a decade later, that phobia has been sufficiently conquered, out of necessity. McClanahan, projected to be drafted earlier than any Bulls player before him, has grown accustomed to being photographed, clocked and mechanically dissected.
Instead of recoiling, he relishes in it.
“As a young freshman, he was kind of a deer-inheadlights look,” said firstyear Bulls coach Billy Mohl, USF's pitching coach the past three seasons.
“Watching him grow as a human being over the last three years in terms of … becoming a more mature kid, I mean, that's really helped in his development on the field as well.”
Less than two years removed from Tommy John surgery, McClanahan takes the mound for tonight’s season opener against North Carolina armed with a mid-90s fastball, gobs of preseason hype, no fewer than three quality pitches, and the confidence to throw any of them at any point in the count.
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“I feel comfortable with all of ’em,” said McClanahan, who likely will lean on the fastball and changeup.
Raised in Cape Coral, McClanahan dabbled in just about every position — even spending time as a left-handed catcher — as a Little Leaguer.
He says he didn't really evolve into a pitcher until the early stage of his high school career, when he was invited to join a Southwest Florida Baseball, Inc. (SWFL) travel team.
Though he wore a size-10 1⁄2 shoe, McClanahan remained a “tiny guy” by his own description until growing approximately 8 inches — to more than 6 feet — between his junior and senior year.
With the 6-foot-1 frame came the heat and the scouts. As a Cape Coral senior, McClanahan finished 7-3 with a 1.15 ERA, striking out 91 in 55 innings. Drafted in the 26th round (779th overall) by the Mets in 2015, he opted for USF.
That fall, the elbow soreness that nagged him his entire senior year worsened.
After Tommy John surgery, he redshirted the 2016 season but responded strongly in ’17, striking out 104 in 76 innings (4-2, 3.20 ERA). His stock has catapulted since; Baseball America has named him a first-team preseason AllAmerican.
In December, MLB.com ranked him fifth among its top ’18 draft prospects.