Rays left-hander Brendan McKay suffered an injury to the UCL in his throwing elbow, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (Twitter link). McKay, who suffered the injury on the first pitch of yesterday’s appearance with Triple-A Durham, will go for a second opinion. Topkin notes that the team isn’t yet sure whether he’ll require surgery.
Whether or not McKay goes under the knife, one has to feel awful for the 26-year-old. A former #4 overall pick and top prospect, McKay progressed up the minor league ladder rather quickly and reached the majors in 2019. He tossed 49 innings over 13 appearances (including 11 starts), only managing a 5.14 ERA but posting an above-average 25.9% strikeout rate. In spite of some home run troubles, the former Louisville two-way star looked like a potential rotation building block for Tampa Bay.
In the three years since then, McKay hasn’t thrown a single major league pitch. That’s on account of an almost unfathomable stretch of poor injury luck. He missed the shortened 2020 season on account of a shoulder problem that eventually required surgery. The rehab from that procedure kept him out of action until late June 2021. Just a few outings into a minor league rehab stint, McKay suffered a flexor strain in his forearm that again proved to be season-ending. He was then diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome and underwent surgery to correct that issue last November.
McKay had been on the injured list for all of 2022 as he recovered from the TOS procedure. He set out on a rehab assignment in mid-July and spent his allotted 30-day window pitching back to Triple-A. The Rays just formally reinstated McKay from the IL on Tuesday but kept him in Durham on an optional assignment. How the club proceeds from here will be determined by the results of the upcoming evaluation, but the revelation of ligament damage certainly means another trip to the IL and would appear likely to end his 2022 season.
This poor guy. I hate to say it but this may be the final nail in his coffin. He’s had too many surgeries on his pitching side of his body to date (shoulder, elbow, rib cage, etc); the body can only take so much repair before it gets to the point of no return. It feels like McKay may have finally reached that point. Such a shame because his natural talent was off the charts! Maybe he can return as a DH or 1B; a position where he can take advantage of his two-way talent but doesn’t put much stress on his throwing arm?
The one slight upside is that usually top pitching prospects that fail due to injury can become really good pitching coaches. Look at Mark Prior.
Just a really sad story. Hopefully he’s able to end up mostly pain-free when doing regular people activities, and he can live a good life either inside or outside of baseball.
You mention “shoulder, elbow, rib cage” then say he should DH, my brother, what body parts do you need to hit? Those ones!
These injuries he’s had are death for pitchers though. I think OP is right. They can try him as a DH since he was an elite college bat and once thought to be a potential 2 way player
Time to grab a bat.
Beat me to it!
Go look at his injury list and tell me how he’s supposed to?
Pitching probably should not be in his future. He’s still young enough to develop as a position player and could still have a decent career
His Minors batting numbers are far from stellar. I don’t think being a position player was ever in the cards either. Can he still play OF, because that bat for a 1B/DH ain’t cutting it.
He took 11 PA in the minors. No one can realistically tell if his bat would play or not… but if you’re evaluating those 11 PA, his slugging numbers in that small sample size are actually really good since he hit a HR during that span. Let him take 200 PA then re-evaluate, but I think it’s too early right now to say that he can’t be a 1B/DH with certainty.
His injuries are not going to allow to him to hit MLB pitching. At full health yeah sure he probably should have tried 1B/DH instead of P, but no shot he can hit with all the surgeries done on him. Not MLB pitching at least.
Just goes to show that Shohei Ohtani is the extreme exception to the rule.
Yeah this dude Babe Ruth also but good point
ありがとうございます。
“The Babe Ruth of college baseball”
• Consensus 2017 National Player of the Year
• Three-Time John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year (2015, 2016, 2017)
• Three-Time Baseball America First Team All-America (2015, 2016, 2017)
• Three-Time D1Baseball First Team All-America (2015, 2016, 2017)
• Three-Time NCBWA First Team All-America (2015, 2016, 2017)
• Two-Time ABCA First Team All-America (2016, 2017)
• Two-Time USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Member (2015, 2016)
• 2016 Perfect Game Second Team All-America
• 2016 Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Third Team All-America
• 2016 NCAA Louisville Regional Most Outstanding Player
• Two-Time All-ACC First Team (2016, 2017, starting pitcher & utility/designated hitter)
• 2015 National Freshman of the Year (Baseball America/Collegiate Baseball/D1Baseball/Perfect Game)
• 2015 Perfect Game First Team All-America
• 2015 Freshman All-America (Baseball America/D1Baseball/NCBWA/Louisville Slugger)
• 2015 NCAA Louisville Regional All-Tournament Team
• 2015 ACC Freshman of the Year
• 2015 All-ACC First Team (starting pitcher)
• 2015 All-ACC Second Team (utility player)
2017 HONORS
• 2017 MLB Draft, 1st Round (4th overall), Tampa Bay Rays
• 2017 Golden Spikes Award Winner
• 2017 Dick Howser Trophy Winner
• 2017 Baseball America National Player of the Year
• 2017 D1Baseball National Player of the Year
• 2017 American Baseball Coaches Association National Player of the Year
• 2017 Perfect Game National Player of the Year
• 2017 Collegiate Baseball Newspaper National Player of the Year
• 2017 College World Series All-Tournament Team (DH)
• 2017 Baseball America First Team All-America
• 2017 D1Baseball First Team All-America
• 2017 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association First Team All-America
• 2017 American Baseball Coaches Association First Team All-America
• 2017 Collegiate Baseball Newspaper First Team All-America
• 2017 Perfect Game First Team All-America
• 2017 John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year
• 2017 ACC Player of the Year
• 2017 All-ACC First Team (starting pitcher & designated hitter/utility)
• Collegiate Baseball Newspaper National Player of the Week (5/1/17)
• ACC Player of the Week (5/1/17)
• ACC Pitcher of the Week (3/13/17, 3/20/17, 4/17/17, 5/8/17)
• Seven Career ACC Weekly Honors – Most All-Time
• NCBWA National Player of the Month (February, 2017)
Brett Honeywell the sequel.
That’s so horrible man, jeeze, first pitch.
I looked it up, it was first pitch of a game, not his season, he had pitched prior to that. It reads like it was the only pitch of 2022 he threw.
Dude was a beast in travel ball growing up. Beaver Valley Red. Pittsburgh area.
Hopefully he saved his signing bonus and won’t have to work at The Hot Dog Shoppe.
This generation’s Brooks Kieschnick.
I almost never comment on injuries, because that’s part of the risk of a million $$$ career. But I feel bad for this dude. Hopefully returns as an RP, or hitter, and gets at least some career earnings or service time.
A lot of it is due to injuries, but that 2017 draft class is looking like one of the worst/most underperforming drafts in decades.
2016 is much worse. Well maybe it’s equal