The Toronto Blue Jays acquired C Reese McGuire in a trade with the Pittsburgh Pirates. What sort of player is he?
Who Is He?
McGuire was drafted as the 14th overall selection in the 2013 draft out of high school in Washington state by the Pirates. He was widely renowned for his glove coming into the draft, but he got plenty of attention when he came out in his draft year and hit a combined .323/.380/.380 between the GCL and Jamestown in the short-season New York-Penn League. After this performance, Baseball America ranked him as the #81 prospect in the game, and Baseball Prospectus ranked him #59.
He then went to low-A West Virginia in the South Atlantic League in his first full season, and his bat lagged behind as he hit .262/.307/.334. His defense was still excellent, throwing out just short of 40% of runners attempting to steal on him. He dropped down the rankings with Baseball America to #97, but Baseball Prospectus held steady at #59. MLB.com added McGuire to their ranks as well at #64.
McGuire was promoted to high-A Bradenton in the Florida State League in 2015, where he hit .254/.301/.294. The Pirates sent McGuire to the Arizona Fall League, and he thrived there, going .294/.379/.412 in 14 games in the AFL, making enough of an impression to overcome his poor regular season and remain #98 on MLB.com’s rankings and #76 on Baseball Prospectus’ rankings. Baseball America dropped him from their top 100 list, however.
McGuire’s success in the AFL did not carry forward to this season in AA Altoona in the Eastern League. He’s hit .262/.335/.348 on the season this year combined between Altoona and his new team in New Hampshire after his trade to the Toronto Blue Jays organization. He was not named on any of the midseason rankings lists.
Next: McGuire's scouting report