New York Yankees: Scouting Report On OF Billy McKinney

Scouting Report

Body/Basics

McKinney is listed at 6’1 and 205 pounds. He looks all of that, and he carries a good chunk of his weight in his lower body. He’s definitely a guy who would look good getting off of the bus. McKinney is a lefty swinger and thrower.

Hitting

McKinney has a very short, compact swing that generates very good contact power but also has good bat control through the zone. He’s shown before this season an ability to handle tough breaking pitches inside and outside, and he’s also done well driving pitches that are hung in the zone, but this year has been a struggle in both of those regards.

With no change that I can see in his 2015 film to his 2016 film in approach, hand placement, body size, swing path, or anything obvious like that, McKinney is now struggling to drive those balls in perfect power zones for a lefty hitter, and he’s really getting fooled by breaking pitches on the edges of the zone, especially to the inside part of the plate. This has led to a lot of weak contact rather than strikeouts, as he’s kept his strikeout rate about the same, but he’s just not putting the ball in play with authority. It’s not a BABIP issue either, as he’s typically a guy with a .320ish BABIP, and he sported exactly a .320 BABIP for Tennessee and has had a .303 BABIP with Trenton, so it’s not like he’s getting unlucky by any means.

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McKinney has been kept in the leadoff position in spite of not having big stolen base numbers primarily because of his excellent eye, and he’s never had a walk percentage under 8% at any partial stop along the way. This season, even with his struggles, his walk rate has been around 12-13% all year long. He’s got excellent zone judgement and pitch recognition, but, like I mentioned earlier, for some reason handling those pitches just isn’t happening this year.

McKinney has a level, contact-oriented swing. A guy with a swing like his is likely not going to hit a ton of home runs just because the swing path leads to more of a flat angle on the ball and leads to a lot more line drives, so his power will be seen in doubles and triples more than home runs, but if McKinney’s a permanent corner outfielder, his value will rely on more balls leaving the park in the future, and that will take a fairly significant swing adjustment for him.

Base Running/Fielding

McKinney is certainly build like an athlete. He reminds you of a defensive back as he walks to the plate, but then he gets on base or attempts to chase down a ball in the outfield, and you keep expecting him to kick in one more gear of speed on top of what he’s showing. To use a good “redneck” analogy, he’s akin to the 4-speed pickup truck that can only work in the first 3 gears, so you can rev it up all you want in that 3rd gear, but the truck simply won’t shift into fourth anymore.

That said, he does have fairly good instincts when base running. He’s not an adept base stealer, but he tends to know how to grab an extra base on a single to the outfield or when to bluff or when to go on a fly ball to the outfield.

On defense, McKinney has an above average arm, but nothing spectacular, and his instincts off the bat are quite good in tracking the ball, but once again, he seems to be missing one gear of speed, which would make him an excellent corner outfield defender, but not really a passable center fielder.

Video

Next: Future outlook