Trevor McDonald RHP. DOB: 2/26/2001. 6' 2", 180 lbs. Drafted 2019 Round 11($800 K).
McDonald has been on my radar since he was drafted as a Round 11 special bonus baby out of HS. Sure enough, the Giants scraped together enough $$ to keep him from going to college. He was added to the 40-man MLB roster in November 2023. He pitched at multiple levels last season after starting the season late and having it interrupted by a series of minor injuries. He has a sturdy pitcher's frame and throws a mid-90's sinker with a slider and changeup as secondary pitches. Although he does not put up big strikeout numbers he makes up for that with dominant groundball numbers with GB ratios around 2.00. He started his first MLB game at the end of last season and pitched 3 shutout innings. He only had 1 K and 1 BB but induced 7 groundball outs.
You can argue he does not deserve to be ranked this high but I have long believed he was an underrated prospect in the Giants system and I give him a few extra points for making the 40-man and for the MLB appearance however brief. He has two option years left and will likely start this season back at AAA where his goal will be to stay healthy, polish his game and wait for an opportunity(he has some competition with The Carsons for that call up though).
Interesting! Those 3 MLB innings were very smooth, I recall. I suspect the Gs share your view.
ReplyDeleteDoc, would you say a possible comp is Kyle Hendricks? -e
ReplyDeleteMaybe a harder throwing version of Kyle Hendricks. I'll look up starting pitchers with high groundball rates and see who comes up. That type of pitcher seems like a dying breed but might be an emerging market inefficiency as groundball pitchers tend to keep their pitch counts down and get deeper into games which helps keep bullpens from burning out.
DeleteHello! When I looked up starting pitchers with GB/FB's of approximately 2.00 guess which one seems to fit the best? None other than Logan Webb!
DeleteWhy is it last year that he flew through the minors, while previously the Giants seemed to not be pushing him that far? Maybe this is a poor interpretation of his progression? Or did he have some big change in mechanics?
ReplyDeleteBest,
Fan
Probably multiple reasons: He lost his first full pro season to COVID in 2020. Pitched super well in 2022. Only pitched 47 innings in 2023 I think due to minor injuries. He had to be added to the 40-man roster before last season so I think the Giants FZ et al realized he needed to start making more rapid progress. Also there was a noticeable increase in the aggressiveness of minor league promotions over the past two seasons. Obviously avoding the nagging injuries of the past two seasons is job one for him in 2025.
DeleteThanks for the summary doc!
Delete- Fan