Toronto Blue Jays: Scouting Report On C Reese McGuire

Scouting Report

Body/Basics

McGuire hits from the left side and throws from the right. He’s listed at 5’11 and 215 pounds. That looks correct, and maybe even a little on the heavy side for his actual weight, though the wear of a season can certainly do that to a catcher.

Hitting

McGuire has struggled for good reason at the plate. His swing needs a lot of work. He starts from a normal hitting crouch, but then he has a notable leg kick as he strides forward, drops his hands down, and then leads his swing with his hands, with his barrel trailing behind. This leads to excellent bat control for McGuire, and it’s notable that he doesn’t strike out much at all because of this.

His hand placement does have a number of negative issues, though. He ends up struggling to get his body in alignment to truly drive a ball, and, to that point, both extra base hits that I watched were flare hits that found a hole between two outfielders, not pitches driven hard. He has his hands released before his hips get fired within his swing, which leaves his power struggling. The bat head trails the hands, and while that gives control, it also means that McGuire struggles to drive pitches.

I really wanted to see something that was going to be a quick or “easy” fix on McGuire’s swing, but I simply cannot see it here. His swing will need a whole tear down and rebuild to work at the big league level.

Base Running/Fielding

McGuire has excellent athleticism, and he’s utilized that on the bases throughout his career thus far. He’s stolen 32 bases, including 14 in 2015, though his success rate is not exactly great. He does run well on the base paths, but his instincts stealing bases are poor, to say the least. He’ll likely be a guy who could end up with 5-10 steals per year just because he’s quick enough to get that many when a pitcher isn’t holding him.

McGuire uses his solid catcher’s build in solid legs and wide shoulders to set a very good target for his pitcher. He also moves his body late while giving a target early for his pitcher, so he’s not giving away the location of the pitch to the hitter. He sets up well with the umpire as well, framing a pitch well for his pitcher.

McGuire in the run game is really a thing of beauty. He has excellent footwork and release, and his accuracy on his throws is pinpoint. While he may not have the pure arm strength of some catchers, his quick footwork and release and his accuracy allows him to be one of the fastest from home to second that you’ll find in the minor leagues. He simply shuts down an opponent’s running game when he is behind the plate.

Video

Next: Future outlook