Ex-Blackhawk star doing it all in minors

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

With the eyes of the baseball world locked on two-way sensation Shohei Ohtani, the Los Angeles Angels rookie starting pitcher and designated hitter, Tampa Bay Rays minor leaguer Brendan McKay sees Ohtani potentially paving a path for him. McKay, who bats left and throws left, believes one day he can pitch and play first base in the majors. So far, the Rays believe, too.

This spring, McKay, 22, began his first full season of pro ball by joining Class A Bowling Green (Ky.). McKay — a native of Darlington, Beaver County, who starred at Blackhawk High School and Louisville — is staying busy. Per the Rays’ plan, McKay pitches every sixth day, sits the day he throws a bullpen session, and plays first base the rest of the time.

“I like being busy,” McKay said by phone after a doubleheader last week in which he started at first base in Game 1 and threw in the bullpen during Game 2. “I like playing.”

On bus rides around the Midwest, McKay watches Ohtani highlights on his cell phone. What Ohtani is doing is “amazing,” McKay said, and it offers hope for two-way amateurs.

“It brings attention not only to him and me, but to other guys coming up, in high school or college, who are doing both,” McKay said. “They have somebody to look up to who can help give them a shot at playing both ways professionally rather than picking one to go into pro ball with.”

McKay, drafted fourth overall last year, signed with the Rays June 27, 2017, for $7,007,500, the second-highest bonus agreed to under current draft rules. Two days later, he was given the Golden Spikes Award, which goes to the top amateur player in the country. He then reported to Class A short-season Hudson Valley and began his slow climb toward the majors.

While McKay batted only .232 with a .725 OPS in 36 games for Hudson Valley, he had a 1.80 ERA in 20 innings. The Rays remained committed to keeping him a twoway player. Why?

“It’s simple,” Rays minor league director Mitch Lukevics told the Tampa Bay Times. “He did it. … Everybody else in the world says, ‘I can hit and I can pitch,’ but they’ve never done it to the degree that Brendan McKay has. And he did it so well he was college player of the year.”

Lukevics said a two-way McKay is “absolutely no gimmick,” but the challenge now is how to continue his successes and strengths across a full 140game minor league season. Because these are uncharted waters, Rays coaches and coordinators have had to draft a new development plan to ensure both McKay’s bat and arm are ready for any level the organization places him at.

This spring, Baseball America ranked McKay as its 39th-best prospect in baseball. MLB Pipeline put him 25th overall — their top first base prospect and fifthbest left-handed pitching prospect.

Bob Amalia, Blackhawk’s baseball coach, isn’t surprised by the bullish projections. When McKay left for Louisville, Amalia said, the coach knew McKay was pro-ready from a pitching standpoint. Amalia figured it’d take McKay a year to catch up to college-level pitching. It took him no time.

“I knew he’d be successful as a pitcher and as a hitter. He was just too good,” Amalia said. “Now I don’t know if I can say I knew he’d be a Golden Spikes winner. That just doesn’t happen.”

Amalia laughed, adding he thinks McKay will be an All-Star as a pitcher, and continued: “I still say in two years he’ll be in the majors. I can definitely see him pitching there in two years. What might slow the process down a little bit is they’re trying to build him as a pitcher and a hitter.”

In his first three outings for Bowling Green, McKay struck out 15 over nine innings, walked one and allowed a two-run home run. His focus is on pitching efficiently, without wasting pitches by getting behind in the count. McKay credited his time at Louisville for teaching him how to understand hitters’ approaches and attack properly. And to not sweat a hit here and there.

“That’s baseball. That happens,” McKay said. “Once the ball leaves your hand, it’s out of your control. You can make the best pitch in the world, and the guy breaks his bat and gets a hit or fouls it off and ends up getting a hit later in the at-bat. There’s nothing you can do about that.”

At bat, McKay has shown patience. He walked 14 times in his first 43 plate appearances with the Hot Rods, batting .345 with an eye-popping .558 on-base percentage to start the season.

McKay trained at Louisville this offseason but returned to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving, Christmas and to attend the Steelers’ one and only playoff game with his father, Bruce. McKay said he hears often from former Blackhawk teammates, and he checks in periodically with Amalia. The Hot Rods have a strong band of supporters in Western Pa., McKay said.

Given what’s transpired, it’s easy to forget McKay might have been picked in the top-10 rounds in 2014 had he not been so determined to honor his commitment to Louisville. The San Diego Padres drafted him in the 34th round but didn’t pony up a signing bonus worth steering McKay away from college. “If I’d gone first round it could have been a harder decision,” McKay said.

“Obviously,” Amalia added, “it was the right decision.”