Pete Caldera of the Bergen Record has a nice piece out on Zach McAllister, one of the Yankees best-rated pitching prospects. McAllister, 22, is in camp this spring to show off his stuff after tossing 121 innings of 2.23 ERA ball for Trenton in 2009. Though he isn’t known for his strikeout totals – 96 last season – McAllister’s command and sinking fastball have him at the top of the Yankees’ list if the need arises for a farm system callup, at some point, in 2010. The 6’6″ right-hander will do his best during Spring Training to keep his name in mind before heading off to Scranton. “I know that they’ve been calling the younger guys up the last couple of years,” McAllister said regarding the prospect of a big-league appearance this season. “It’s one of those things where, if I go out and do my job and something happens at the big-league level, hopefully I’ll get my shot up there.” Last October, McAllister, a native of Illinois, was named the Yankees third best prospect by our very own, EJ Fagan.
Photo via Mike Ashmore
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
7 Responses to McAllister waits for an opportunity
Leave a Reply
TIQ IQ
I know he probably won’t get much better because he apparently lacks that killer out pitch, but I love Z-Mac. He keeps the ball on the ground, he keeps the ball in the park, and doesn’t give out many walks. Despite not getting nearly the same hype, McAllister’s numbers stack up very favorably to those of Kyle Drabek. McAllister could definitely end up as the fifth starter in ’11 and a solid #3 by the time he reaches his peak. GO ZACH!
Agreed, Matt. His minor-league numbers are very impressive. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do and I also think he can be, at least, a fifth starter (even on the Yankees).
Hoping for Derek Lowe II. Lowe had plenty of AL East Success, and never struck out more than 127 batters in the AL.
If you told me today that Z-Mac was going to be Lowe Part II, I’d take that in a heartbeat.
Who wouldn’t? Problem is there’s 100 Mitres for every 1 Lowe or Webb. Even something in between would be valuable.
I don’t see his ceiling as being as high as a #3, but he could be a solid #4 or 5 starter. Chances are, he’s trade bait.
It’ll be fun to see how he does this year.
One thing I have always wondered about…why is everyone worried about the skrike-outs this guy has, CMW didn’t have a lot and he did ok. I can understand why strike-outs are important but, that doesn’t mean he can’t be an effective starting pitcher. If he has good C&C (he does) he can learn to improve his pitches from ok to good, if not very good on one or two of them. He already pitches down in the zone, improvement with the action on his pitches wouldn’t hurt him.
As with a few other players in the minors…give him a good chance, not one time but a few times.
Its because of peoples fascination with the radar gun, some people think it is impossible to be an effective pitcher w/o a high number of K’s and blazing fastballs, I dont agree with that one bit, Z-Mac has been effective all throughout his career, that has to count for something