McKay Shines at the plate and on the mound for the Tampa Bay Rays Single-A organization in Bowling Green

Arguably Louisville baseball’s greatest player is doing what most expected him to do once turning pro. In his first full minor league season, Brendan McKay is already showing the Rays he was worth the record setting signing bonus.

In the season opener against the Dayton Dragons, McKay batted clean up and went 1 for 2, with an RBI and 3 walks. He saw action in the Hot Rod’s 3rd contest, going 2 for 4, with 3 RBI and 2 walks. He followed up that performance with another RBI, going 2 for 3 and walking once. Through his team’s first 5 games, McKay leads the Hot Rods in batting average (.556), RBI (5), walks (6), and currently leads the Midwest league with an insane .733 on-base percentage.

And don’t forget, the man can pitch too. The Maddux-esque lefty made his Hot Rod debut Monday evening, starting against the South Bend Cubs. He threw two innings of perfect baseball, striking out four, only needing 24 pitches to retire the first six batters. McKay was pulled for righty Jhonleider Salinas after the second.

McKay isn’t going to blow you away with an upper 90s fastball or a Barry Zito-like 12-6 curve, but he’s going to beat you with his location. He recorded his 4th K of the night on 3 consecutive fastballs. The commentator added that the first of those only clocked in at 92 MPH.

On the mound, he reminds me a lot of current Cubs pitcher Kyle Hendricks. Hendricks won’t kill you with power, but he has total command of the strike zone. McKay has shown that location is going to win him ball games, but we’ll need to see how he progresses through the minors. At the plate, McKay is as poised as it gets.

At only 22 years old, expect the Rays to take McKay’s progression slowly. It is incredibly rare to see a player fly through the ranks of the minors. Once you get to AAA ball, those are Major league arms coming at you with major league stuff. While on the pitching side, AAA hitters are used to seeing Major League stuff. If the beginning of the season is any indicator, the Rays want to make sure his bat is going to keep up with his arm as he moves through the ranks. Throughout his Louisville career, McKay depended on the pinpoint accuracy of his fastball to retire batters. Going forward, he’ll need to improve his second and third pitches to continue moving up the ladder. However, barring an unfortunate injury, expect to see Brendan in the majors in the next few years.

Brendan McKay is only getting started for the Bowling Green Hots Rods. Stay tuned for what should be a fun ride through the minor leagues.