|
2007 Short and squat, McBride`s built for the bullpen. He usually works around 89 to 92 MPH, and his slider is fairly good at giving lefties fits (on his career, lefties have hit a mere .179/.245/.276 against him). You`d like to see better control from your LOOGY, but he`s not giving up many big flies. Only 23, he has time to fix his control issues. 2006 A 2001 1st rounder out of Sylvania, Georgia, McBride struggled at Double-A in 2004 until shifted to the bullpen, where mechanical adjustments upped his velocity into the mid-90s. Summoned to Atlanta in late July, he was largely effective in the second LOOGY role: his 1.08 WXRL was second on the team, and his ERA was distorted by a bombing in an 11-3 loss and the performances of the relievers behind him (his Fair Run Average was 3.68). Mostly, he missed a lot of bats; more than half of the 42 outs he recorded came on strikeouts. Long-term, the Braves may still be thinking of him as a starter rather than a reliever, which probably means more time in the minors.
|