The University of Miami has one of the strongest MLB draft histories. It has produced such players as All-Stars Yasmani Grandal and Ryan Braun, and World Series champ Jon Jay. It is truly one of the great universities when it comes to producing baseball players. The 2020 MLB Draft is approaching and Chris McMahon is one of the school’s promising selections.
Chris McMahon Draft Profile
McMahon is a right-handed pitcher who committed to the Hurricanes over a 33rd round selection from the Atlanta Braves in 2017. He is MLB.com’s 29th overall prospect. McMahon is listed at 6’2″, 205 pounds. He was off to a strong start to his junior season at Miami before the current global pandemic ended college sports for the season.
The West Chester, Pennsylvania native has improved his draft stock immensely with an overall solid college career. He could have pushed his ranking even higher with more games but the junior will be an interesting selection in 2020.
Strengths
Chris McMahon has a three-pitch mix featuring a fastball, changeup and either a slider or curveball depending on where you look. MLB classifies it as a curve but Baseball America says he has a slider. Either way, all three are in the 50-60/80 range, with the fastball being the best at this time at 60/80. It consistently sits 95-96 but it was running up near 98 early in the 2020 season.
The offspeed pitch plays well off the fastball and induces a healthy number of ground-outs. The breaking pitch will need some work so it can be clearly identified and refined but it looks to be a plus offering overall. The arsenal was working fine in 2020. McMahon had 38 strikeouts in 25 2/3 innings, which is good for a rate of 13.3 K/9. That is was the 58th-best mark in college but some of the higher-ranked players pitched fewer innings or against less-notable competition.
McMahon allowed just 19 hits with no home runs before play was suspended. He allowed three runs total, all earned, in his four starts. Those came in the first two games against Rutgers and powerhouse Florida. Miami lost his start against Florida but McMahon played quite well. He pitched six strong innings with one earned run, nine strikeouts and just two walks in a 7-4 defeat.
McMahon has shown steady improvement in college despite minor injuries to his knee and back. He has lowered his hits per nine innings and ERA while increasing strikeouts. A full season might have solidified him as a first-round pick given his start to this year, but he still projects to be a late-first round or early-second round pick given his prospect ranking.
Weaknesses
McMahon can is a quality strike-thrower, but his arm can be late on occasions, leading to less-efficient innings. He didn’t walk many batters this year but most of his competition was not ACC-calibre. McMahon didn’t throw fewer than 88 pitches in any of his starts including 110 in 6 2/3 innings against then 2-6 Towson. He will have to get a little more efficient in his outings.
He also gives up a few hits more than he should. His pitches can get a little flat which is not uncommon for developing arms. Getting more movement out of his secondary offerings will be one of the keys when McMahon is placed on a pro roster.
MLB Comp
Based purely on pitch arsenal, Jason Adam proves to be a comparable MLB player to McMahon. The current Chicago Cubs reliever is a little bigger at 6’4″, 225 but throws the same fastball/curve/changeup mix. His fastball was typically in the 94-95 MPH range so McMahon already has that beat. Adam also relies more on his curveball while McMahon’s next best pitch is probably his changeup at this time.
A better body comp would be the Colorado Rockies Scott Oberg. Oberg is listed at 6’2″, 203 pounds and mostly throws fastballs and sliders with the occasional changeup. Oberg is a reliever but might be a slightly more accurate comparison if McMahon’s breaking pitch ends up on the slider end of the slurve spectrum. McMahon is a starter at this point but many pitchers have four pitches compared to three. He might add another secondary offering in the professional ranks to keep hitters off-balance.
McMahon has some areas to work on. He needs to get a better feel for his pitch movement and define his breaking ball better, but he is one of the better college arms in the draft. He should be a solid selection for a team in the latter part of the first round or early in the second.
Main Photo: Embed from Getty Images
