Wednesday, January 22, 2020

DrB's 2020 Giants Top 50 Prospects: #29 Grant McCray


Grant McCray OF.  DOB:  12/7/2000.  B-L, T-R.  6'2", 170 lbs.

Rookie(AZL):  .270/.379/.335, 5 2B, 2 3B, HR, 17 SB, 13.6 BB%, 24.5 K%, GB/FB= 2.92, 220 PA.

Grant McCray was a little noticed, HS prospect with some tools leading up to the draft(Fangraphs didn't rank him).  The Giants reached out and grabbed him in the third round.  He's got 50-60 tools across the board except for power which I think may still be projectable.  His top tool is speed and he projects as a true CF who can lead off and steal some bases.  In addition to the tools, Grant has some baseball pedigree. His father, Rodney McCray got 14 MLB AB's but is immortalized by a baseball "bloopers" video of him crashing through an OF wall after catching a gapper somewhere in the minor leagues.

There are some very nice numbers in his pro debut and also some things to improve on.  The first thing I notice is the walk rate and OBP.  Very nice, especially for a low power guy.  Fangraphs says he's tracking pitches well and being appropriately selective.  Breaking it down into splits, there was a slow start hitting just .114 in 43 PA in June but then .292 in July and .321 in August.  I find that encouraging for the future too.  The low power is due to an extremely high GB rate.  Maybe he's trying to be a slap/leadoff hitter, but he has the physical tools to be much more than that with a long body that has room to add at least 20 lbs of muscle without compromising his speed and athleticism.  Fangraphs mentions a need to alter his swing mechanics.  Here's a project for the Giants player developers to get that FB rate up and start sending balls up the gaps and out of the park.

There's going to be a fight for OF spots in Augusta this spring, but as a 3'rd round draft pick it seems like he should have and early shot, unless the Giants keep him back in extended spring training to work on the swing.
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1 comment:

  1. baseballjunkieJanuary 22, 2020 at 9:34 PM

    McCray strikes me as a Dodgery kind of pick- a toolsy, later round high school type of player that Dodger player development system turns into a useful major leaguer, if not a star. McCray was unheralded and a surprise pick, and I'm just purely speculating, but it could be that Farhan and the Giants draft team suspected the Dodgers might have been eyeing McCray for a later round and therefore the Giants selected him as early as the 3rd round.

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