Michael McGreevy entered the University of California, Santa Barbara as a two-way player who considered his primary position shortstop. However, the Gauchos coaching staff felt pitching was McGreevy’s position chance at the majors. He threw out of the bullpen as a freshman in 2019 and successfully transitioned to the rotation in 2020. His numbers as a right-handed pitcher prove just that. As a reliever in 2019, McGreevy finished the season with a 5-1 record, 1.94 ERA, and six saves in 60 1/3 innings pitched.
In three seasons at the NCAA level, he went 16-2 with a 2.89 ERA and 188 strikeouts. McGreevy has all the qualities needed for a future big league starter: the size and athleticism needed to succeed across multiple innings. The moment he switched positions, his college career took off. MLB scouts across baseball are starting to pay attention for all of the right reasons.
Michael McGreevy MLB Draft Profile
Scouting Grades: Fastball: 55, Curveball: 50, Slider: 55, Changeup: 50, Control: 60, Overall: 50
Strengths
McGreevy has a knack to throw strikes and boy, can he do it. He continued that this year with harder and sharper stuff. His fastball is now up to 96 mph consistently and sits around 93 mph with good sinking movement. He has two different breaking pitches: one being his slider that’s slightly ahead of his developing curveball, and he even knows how to mix in an average changeup.
McGreevy can command all four of his pitches. He attacks the zone and looks to improve his fastball velocity. The extra velocity has not affected his command, and it led to an impressive season where the righty went 6-1, posting a 2.96 ERA while striking out 10.4 batters per nine innings. He posted an incredible K/BB ratio of 11/1. With the movement on his pitches, he was an easy but repeatable delivery on the mound.
Weaknesses
There aren’t too many weaknesses to McGreevy’s overall game. His frame of 6’4″ and 215 pounds is good enough to be a starter. However, one concern that comes to mind of most scouts is his curveball pitch. While those pitchers offer impressive depth, his curveball is known as average more often than not. He only pitches with his upper body, and improving his mechanical adjustments can help him pick up more speed in his pitches. His offspeed pitches are a work-in-progress and must be adjusted if he wants to become a starter. McGreevy will be an above-average pitcher if he can improve his curveball and add more breaking balls.
MLB Comparison
McGreevy seems to have a similar profile to Cleveland Indians pitcher Shane Bieber. His command rivals Bieber’s, who is coming off winning the AL Cy Young Award a season ago. Not to mention, Bieber also struck out 109 batters and walked just 16 during UCSB’s College World Series run of 2016. But McGreevy’s uptick in his pitching is playing up even more due to his command of all four pitchers. That’s allowed him to move into the three-round consideration, and it would make him the earliest-drafted Gaucho since Bieber went in the fourth round in 2016.
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