5 former top prospects the Pirates should take chances on to improve depth

Brendan McKay

Before Shohei Ohtani, many thought that Brendan McKay would take the baseball world by storm and become the first two-way star the sport has seen in quite some time. Unfortunately, that never came to pass. Injuries have consistently sidelined McKay, but he returned to the mound this past season and had some decent numbers, albeit in a very small sample size.

McKay made his MLB debut in 2019, where he pitched 49 innings and worked to the tune of a 5.14 ERA and 1.41 WHIP, but a much prettier 4.08 FIP. He struck out 25.9% of batters faced with a strong 7.4% walk rate. The southpaw was prone to home runs, however, with a 1.47 HR/9 rate. In his defense, though, every pitcher was prone to allowing home runs in 2019. McKay also had a .773 OPS in 11 plate appearances.

McKay was obviously seen as a long-term cog in the Rays’ rotation and lineup after that brief but strong 2019 performance, but injuries would quickly set in. McKay has barely pitched since his promising debut. From 2020-2023, McKay tossed just 28 innings and did not throw a single pitch in 2020 or 2023. He also gave up his two-way prowess after 2021.

McKay pitched 18 innings at Double-A this year, which is the most he’s tossed since 2019. It’s a microscopic sample size, but he pitched well, for what it’s worth. McKay only allowed two earned runs and struck out 17 opponents. Free passes were essentially a non-issue, as he handed out just a single walk.

Like Sixto Sanchez, McKay is far removed from being the promising young pitcher he was in 2019-2020, but he’s a better option to stick at Triple-A than guys like Germán and Woodford. Plus, it gives the Bucs a lefty depth arm to mix things up.