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David McKay

Yankees Select David McKay

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APRIL 5: New York has formally selected McKay onto the 40-man roster. Fellow reliever Stephen Ridings was placed on the 60-day injured list in a corresponding move.

APRIL 4: The Yankees are acquiring reliever David McKay from the Rays, report Ken Rosenthal and Lindsey Adler of the Athletic (Twitter link). The right-hander will be added to New York’s 40-man roster. It’ll be cash considerations heading back to the Rays, tweets Mark Feinsand of MLB.com.

McKay, who joined the Rays in February via minor league deal, had already been reassigned to the minors. With the Yankees willing to give him a roster spot the Rays were not, Tampa Bay will flip him to a division rival with a clearer path to big league time. McKay does still have a minor league option year remaining, so the Yankees can shuttle him between the Bronx and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre all season.

The 27-year-old has appeared in two big league campaigns. He suited up with the Mariners and Tigers between 2019-20, tossing 26 2/3 innings over 26 appearances. McKay pitched to a 6.08 ERA in that time, walking an elevated 15.3% of opponents. To his credit, he punched out a strong 28.8% of batters faced, albeit with just an 8.6% swinging strike percentage.

McKay owns a 4.82 ERA in 46 2/3 Triple-A frames, but he’s fanned an excellent 36.5% of opponents at the minors’ top level. The Yankees will add him to a righty relief group that thinned out a bit over the weekend when New York shipped Albert Abreu to the Rangers for catcher Jose Trevino.

Rays Sign David McKay To Minor League Deal

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The Rays have signed right-hander David McKay to a minor league deal with an invite big league camp, reports Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (on Twitter). McKay was eligible to sign during the lockout because he was outrighted by the Tigers in 2020 and hadn’t signed with another club until now.

McKay made his MLB debut in 2019 with the Mariners, logging seven innings before being claimed on waivers by the Tigers and throwing 19 1/3 innings for them. He ended that season with 26 1/3 innings and an ERA of 5.47 between the two clubs. His 14.8% walk rate was certainly not pretty, but he also struck out batters at a clip of 29.6%, well above that year’s league average of 23%. He also added 45 2/3 Triple-A innings that year between the two organizations, putting up a 4.93 ERA and a terrific 37% strikeout rate, though with the concerning walk rate still present at 14.9%.

In 2020, McKay was limited a one unfortunate outing in Detroit’s Opening Day game, which was in late July because of the pandemic delay. He recorded one out before allowing a walk and a homer and then getting pulled. The Tigers optioned him a couple of days later and, with the pandemic wiping out the minors, he wasn’t able to pitch in organized games again. The club designated him for assignment in September.

As noted by Topkin, the righty underwent hip surgery in April of last year, which has kept him out of action since then. In a column about the signing, Topkin adds that McKay has recently been “hitting 96 mph with his fastball and spinning his slider effectively.” The Rays have developed a reputation for building their pitching staff by finding hidden gems and turning them into fearsome weapons. With McKay already showing a sensational ability to rack up strikeouts, the club will just need to improve his control in order for him to be their next successful reclamation project. McKay will turn 27 years old in March, has less than a year of service time under his belt and has an option year remaining, making him a good fit for Tampa’s style of cycling through a large number of cheap and optionable bullpen arms.

Tigers Designate David McKay For Assignment

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The Tigers announced that they’ve designated right-hander David McKay for assignment. His roster spot will go to infielder Zack Short, whom the Tigers acquired from the Cubs for outfielder Cameron Maybin on Monday.

The 25-year-old McKay is in his second season with the Detroit organization, which claimed him off waivers from the Mariners in August 2019. He tossed a third of an inning with the Tigers this year and 19 1/3 last season, adding to the seven frames he threw as a Mariner. McKay hasn’t produced with either team, though, evidenced by his 6.08 ERA and 6.1 BB/9.

While McKay has done well racking up strikeouts in the majors (11.5 per nine) and at Triple-A (14.9 K/9), he has also had difficulty preventing runs and limiting walks at the minors’ highest level. He does have two minor league options left, though, so teams looking for an affordable and young bullpen option could take a chance on him in the coming days.

Tigers Claim David McKay

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The Tigers announced that they’ve claimed right-hander David McKay off waivers from the Mariners and optioned him to Triple-A Toledo. The move fills Detroit’s 40-man roster.

McKay, 24, made his big league debut with Seattle earlier this season, tossing seven innings out of the bullpen. He was tagged for four runs on five hits and eight walks with five strikeouts in that time, continuing to display the control problems that began to plague him upon reaching Triple-A this season.

McKay logged 43 2/3 innings with Seattle’s Tacoma affiliate but struggled to a 5.15 ERA with 31 walks and 10 hit batsmen in that time. While that’s obviously an ugly line, McKay also racked up an eye-popping 71 strikeouts in that time (14.63 K/9). Control wasn’t an alarming issue for him prior to this season, and he punched out 85 hitters in 59 1/3 innings a season ago when topping out in Double-A, so the Tigers will try their hand at sorting out his location issues. McKay averaged 93 mph on his fastball in his brief big league time this season and drew a plus grade on his slider in MLB.com’s scouting report on him. He lacks a third average pitch, though, making him a rather clear-cut bullpen prospect.

Mariners Designate Mike Wright

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The Mariners have designated right-handed pitcher Mike Wright for assignment, according to Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (Twitter link). In a corresponding move, right-handed reliever David McKay has been recalled from Triple-A. The move leaves the team with an open spot on the 40-man roster.

The news—marking the second time Wright has been designated in the last month—comes in the wake of an ugly outing last night, in which Wright was shelled to the tune of five runs in two innings amidst a 18-4 drubbing at the hands of the Twins. Despite the unsightly 9.00 ERA Wright has posted in his brief stint with the Mariners, who acquired the 29-year-old in late April, Wright’s peripherals seem to indicate better underlying performance than during his stay in Baltimore. In seven games with Seattle, he has pitched to a 3.29 FIP, a much better mark than the 7.68 FIP that earned him a one-way ticket out of Baltimore.

Nonetheless, it evidently was not enough to compel the Mariners to keep him around, and Wright could once again find himself on the move should a team choose to take a chance on his stuff. If not, Wright could remain in the Mariners organization and serve to provide minor-league depth. Of course, this is the latest disappointing development in a rocky career for Wright, who has posted a 6.08 ERA in 253 MLB innings.

Meanwhile, 24-year-old David McKay will join the Mariners’ active roster and is slated to make his Major League debut. The right-hander has appeared in 14 games for Triple-A Tacoma, striking out 34 batters in 21 1/3 innings of work. Acquired early last season from the Royals for cash, McKay features a fastball/slider combination that could make him a suitable relief arm in the middle innings.

Mariners Select David McKay, Place Hunter Strickland On IL

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The Mariners have selected right-hander David McKay from Triple-A Tacoma, placed reliever Hunter Strickland on the 10-day injured list with a right lat strain and moved third baseman Kyle Seager to the 60-day IL, per a team announcement.

McKay, the Mariners’ 25th-ranked prospect at MLB.com, is set for his first major league action since the Royals chose him in the 14th round of the 2016 draft. He joined the Mariners in a March 2018 trade that didn’t net the Royals much of anything in return. Now 23 years old, McKay pitched to a sterling 2.49 ERA/2.90 FIP with 12.61 K/9 and 3.73 BB/9 in 50 2/3 innings at the Double-A level last season.

Strickland, 30, is just 2 1/3 innings into his tenure in Seattle, where he has already yielded three earned runs on three hits, with three strikeouts. The former Giant, who joined the Mariners for a guaranteed $1.3MM in the offseason, surrendered what proved to be the game-losing three-run homer in the ninth inning to the Red Sox’s Mitch Moreland on Friday. The M’s held a 6-4 lead at the time, only to fall 7-6 and drop to 3-1 on the season. It resulted in a blown save for Strickland, whom the M’s could replace with some combination of Matt Festa, Cory Gearrin and Zac Rosscup in the ninth inning. Seager, meanwhile, is out for the foreseeable future on account of a left hand injury.

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