The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Reliever McCreery a towering presence
At 6-feet-9, young left-hander impressive in first spring outing.
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLA. — Adam McCreery stands 6-feet-9 and throws from a high three-quarters arm slot, making the Braves left-hander appear gigantic to a hitter, particularly one who hasn’t seen him before.
“I’ve had a couple of lefties (hitters) come up to me and say, ‘Dude, I never want to face you again,’” McCreery said sheepishly. “But I’m sure once guys get up there they’re just focused on seeing the ball, they’re not thinking like that.”
The Southern California native might be the tallest player to wear an Atlanta Braves uniform if he makes it to the majors, and McCreery has shown enough in the past year to make that a legitimate possibility if he keeps improving. He’s 25 and hasn’t pitched above Single-A, but has made significant strides since coming from the Angels in an overlooked trade for Jhoulys Chacin in May 2016.
In 38 appearances last season with low-A Rome and high-A Florida, McCreery had a 2.74 ERA and an eye-opening 90 strikeouts with 38 walks and just one home run allowed in 62⅓ innings. He had an encouraging first spring-training outing Sunday when he gave up two hits in a scoreless inning with no walks against the Nationals on a windy day, when several other Braves pitchers struggled with command.
“First time I’ve seen him,” said Braves manager Brian Snitker, who’s been impressed early with a few lefty bullpen hopefuls in camp, including Jesse Biddle, McCreery and non-roster invitee Phil Pfeifer. “(McCreery) has got a good arm. I can see why we protected him. That big sucker’s got skills . ... For a guy that’s that big, he looks like he’s coordinated, and the delivery works.”
He doesn’t throw as hard as might be expected given his towering presence, but McCreery compliments a low-90s fastball with a curveball he began throwing two years ago, a pitch that’s had a lot to do with his progress since. Last year, lefty batters hit just .183 with a .560 OPS against McCreery, and right-handers didn’t fare much better with a .218 average and .579 OPS. He made substantial improvement over his first year in the Braves organization in 2016, when he posted a 4.19 ERA in 22 appearances split between rookie-league Danville and low-A Rome.
McCreery once had aspirations of throwing 100 mph like his boyhood idol Randy Johnson, the great 6-foot-10 left-hander. Johnson was the reason that McCreery said he threw sidearm all the way through college, before converting to the more conventional arm slot after being drafted by the Angels in the 22nd round in 2014 (he had been a 14th-round pick by the Twins 0.three years earlier as a high school senior but elected to go to college).
“I don’t know how he throws so hard from down there,” McCreery said of Johnson. “I always modeled myself after him. But it was hard to throw strikes from down there, for me. So once I started moving over the top, it helped me get out front more consistently with strikes.”