The Royals announced that they have selected right-hander John McMillon. In corresponding moves, right-hander Nick Wittgren was optioned to Triple-A while righty Brad Keller was transferred to the 60-day injured list.
McMillon, 25, was signed by the Royals in 2020 as an undrafted free agent. Since then, he’s climbed the minor league ranks by racking up huge strikeout totals, but also demonstrating a clear lack of control. He spent last year in Single-A, tossing 31 innings at that level with a 6.10 earned run average. He struck out 30.8% of batters faced but also walked an eye-popping 26%.
Here in 2023, he’s already covered three levels, going from Single-A to High-A and Double-A. He’s thrown a combined 51 1/3 frames between those stops with a 2.10 ERA. The 12.4% walk rate is still on the high side but a massive improvement over last year. He hasn’t lost any strikeout stuff either, punching out 45.3% of opponents.
With those extremes in his performance, there’s naturally some variation in the evaluations on his abilities. FanGraphs ranked him the #11 prospect in the system last month while Baseball America recently pegged him at #29. Eric Longenhagen of FanGraphs highlights McMillon’s fastball and slider, giving both pitches a 70 grade on the 20-80 scouting scale, adding that the righty could be an elite reliever right now with better control.
The Royals are well out of contention with a record of 39-82, second-worst in baseball with only the A’s beneath them. They can use the remainder of the season to give McMillon a shot at getting big league hitters out, skipping him over Triple-A, at least for the time being.
As for Keller, his transfer is largely a formality since he’s already been on the IL longer than 60 days, landing there back on May 19 due to right shoulder impingement syndrome. He started a rehab assignment in June but his discomfort eventually returned, per Anne Rogers of MLB.com. He started another rehab assignment earlier this week but will have to ramp up and stay healthy before he’s likely to be activated. He’s set to become a free agent at the end of the season.
I was hoping we could win the remaining games with this addition and get to 500, but alas, winning the remaining games puts us at 80-82. Darn.
Seriously though, getting lots of potential bullpen arms surely is going to be one of the top priorities this winter. If McMillon’s improved walk rates can continue, it sounds like he may be a key figure to a very much needed improved bullpen next season.
Hey if baseball doesn’t work out, he can start a fast food empire. McMillons on Wall Street
Pretty crazy an undrafted FA in only his 2nd year of pro ball gets called up to the bigs. Seems a bit rushed tbh.
Can’t Wittgren reject that optional assignment? Or does the minor league deal he signed stipulate that they can option him again after he’s been selected?
Wow, you are correct. I am very surprised he has over 5 years of service time and that the Royals tried to option him. Hope to see some more reporting on this. I have to imagine he is going to accept it or they would not have tried to option him.
Oh actually, here is some reporting: twitter.com/anne__rogers/status/169194468477020989…
Credit to you for realizing this before many people (including MLBTR!)
Replacing a guy like Wittgren with a guy like McMillon is exactly what a team like the Royals needs to do. Let’s see what those guys got.
McMillon is one of those guys that could have gotten to the bigs sooner if not for the control issues. The stuff/velocity has always been there.