6:51 pm: McKay has a flexor strain in his forearm, Topkin reports.
4:44 pm: Rays’ two-way player Brendan McKay recently suffered an elbow injury, manager Kevin Cash tells reporters (including Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times). He has received a platelet-rich plasma injection and will be shut down from throwing for two to three weeks. With only a little more than five weeks remaining in the regular season, it doesn’t seem McKay will have time to ramp back up and contribute during the stretch run.
This will be the second straight lost campaign for McKay, who last pitched in a big league game on September 29, 2019. He missed all of last season with a shoulder issue that eventually required surgery. McKay has spent the bulk of this season on the minor league injured list recovering from that procedure. The southpaw made one appearance in rookie ball in late June but was then shut down for another month before getting back on the mound. He made it back to Double-A Montgomery on August 6 and appeared in three games before incurring his current injury.
It’s particularly alarming that McKay is dealing with another arm problem, although the elbow injury would seem to be distinct from his prior shoulder issue. The PRP treatment and accompanying 2-3 week shutdown suggest there’s hope he’ll be back to health well before the start of Spring Training in 2022. It seems any chance of McKay contributing to the Rays’ playoff push at the end of this season, though, is now gone.
McKay was one of the sport’s premier prospects a few seasons ago. A two-way star at Louisville, he was drafted and has continued to develop as a two-way player. While he’s proven a solid minor league hitter, his numbers on the mound over his first couple pro seasons were downright exceptional. General consensus has been that his future is brighter as a left-handed pitcher, but McKay did continue to log reps on both sides of the ball in his playing time at Double-A this season. He reached the big leagues in 2019, pitching to a 5.14 ERA across his first 49 innings and logging eleven plate appearances. That run prevention isn’t especially impressive, but McKay posted better than average strikeout and walk rates (25.9% and 7.4%, respectively) as a 23-year-old. Because of the subsequent injuries, that remains his only big league experience to date.
The Rays have kept McKay in the minor leagues all season. He hasn’t accrued big league service time in either of the past two years, pushing back his projected path to free agency to the 2027-28 offseason. Placement on the minor league IL doesn’t remove players from the 40-man roster, so McKay continues to occupy a 40-man spot on an always-tight Tampa Bay club.
The Rays could place McKay on the major league 60-day injured list to clear a roster spot, although doing so would require paying him a major league salary and accruing MLB service time. McKay wouldn’t be in position to reach a full year of service in 2021 even if he were added to the MLB IL at this point, so it’s possible the Rays decide to so when the need for a 40-man roster spot next emerges.
Because Tampa Bay has sent McKay to the minors rather than placing him on the MLB injured list in each of the past two seasons, he’s in his third minor league option year. The majority of players cannot be optioned in more than three seasons in their career. Teams are sometimes granted a fourth option year for players who miss extended time due to injury, and it’s possible McKay could qualify for that exception. That won’t be known until next spring. If the Rays aren’t granted a fourth option on McKay, they’d have to carry him on the big league roster (or injured list) beginning in 2022 or risk losing him to another club.
Supposed to be the American Shohei, but injuries keep killing him
Eh that’s a stretch, his batting numbers were never very impressive. Pitching is more of his calling… but the injuries
I played against McKay and Kiriloff (Twins) in Pennsylvania ball. This kid is ELECTRIC both on and off the mound. Might not translate but from playing vs him easy to see him succeeding at both.
Hes obviously very fragile to compare but even as a yankees fan it would have been exiting to see. Unfortunately injuries are killing his carrer. And if Shohei stays in los Angeles we might never see him in the postseason no matter how good he is. Ask trout about that
This is not great news, looking more and more like he will be a bust. May have a Jeff Niemann-type career if he’s lucky. Great college player no doubt, but no exceptional tools (maybe control?). Even after he was drafted they stated he was not an ace type, had a ceiling of a #3 pitcher at his best if all went right. After multiple surgeries, including dreaded shoulder surgery, this guy will be lucky to win 50 games in MLB.
Consider how valuable a #3 is once you actually have confidence in them.
Dodger traded Gray (unproven future #3) and Ruiz (likely starting C) for Scherzer (actual #1) and Turner (fastest real player in baseball and a real star with a year of control)
Not sure if Washington sees Gray as a future #2, but still that’s a heck of return in ASAP help for the dodgers at no real cost for this season.
McKay won’t even be a #3 if his velocity doesn’t come back.
Oh I agree and I never said that a #3 doesn’t have any value, what I meant was as compared to how high he was drafted, his ceiling wasn’t very high at all. Admittedly he did have a high floor and was intriguing because of his two-way abilities. Neither his hitting or his pitching was considered “great”. He had some pop in college, but with lots of strikeouts and not especially high batting average. He had great control as a pitcher, but never threw especially hard or mastered many different pitches. His ceiling was that of a #3 and I agree with you that he probably won’t even reach that, last I read he was upper 80’s with fastball. Again, some pitchers have been successful without high octane, but when you’re drafting #4 overall you expect to get an impact player, not someone “meh”.
Will be lucky to win 50 games? Lol who cares about pitching wins. Zero and I mean zero baseball people do.
Lol I’m pretty sure every and I mean every GM in baseball cares about wins actually. I worked in baseball Ops for several years and know very well what I’m talking about. You’re confusing counting stats in an individual season compared to what someone does over a career. According to you, a guy who wins 20 career games is the same as a guy who wins 200. Lol what a joke. Next time use your tiny brain before posting.
I remember when the great draft debate was between McKay and Kyle Wright (taken next by Atlanta). Both have struggled for one reason or another.
Or as John Hart used to say: “Want 2 starters? Have 10 prospects”.
As a Braves fan, I can confirm. I’ve had my heart broken by many pitching prospects.
Poor kid can’t catch a break.
Yup. How many potential stats drop out before we even learn their names. Hopefully, he’s a balanced young man and will be successful in or out of baseball.
Another example of the risk of picking pitching high in the draft. So many never see their potential because of injuries. Sad.
Pick a position and move on. Ohtani is a special talent. This isn’t high school anymore
The horrible ohtani version
McKay two way player?
he hits worse than Madison Bumgarner, Michael Lorenzen, or Zach Greinke
Huh? He’s had a total of 10 MLB abs. Two hits… one HR and one single. Not exactly an amount to make an opinion either way.
Yeah you can tell after 11 AB’s lol idiot
Good chance this post can be reused next year.
2017 1st round draft class hasn’t been very good so far.
Media hyped McKay.
Doesn’t matter Rays are so loaded with pitching in the minors. Next man up.
Toast.
Time to switch to hitting