1. Triston Mckenzie, Lynchburg Hillcats
Triston Mckenzie is the second best prospect the Indians have in their organization.
He is also the prospect who is the most deserving of a promotion.
Mckenzie leads all of minor league baseball in strikeouts with 140. That is 26 more than the next closest in Single-A. 43 more than the double- leader and 8 more than the leader of triple-A.
Mckenzie is also second in single-A in wins with 9. He is third in WHIP, and 6th in ERA.
Does the front office need anymore convincing? Mckenzie is running right through batters in Single-A.
Last 5 starts amongst friends:
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) July 25, 2017
Juan Hillman 34.0(IP) 20H 7R 7ER 4BB 28SO 1.85 ERA
Triston McKenzie 32.1(IP) 25H 8R 7ER 5BB 43SO 1.95 ERA pic.twitter.com/em7HoaT3nT
Along with Francisco Mejia, Mckenzie was also selected to participate in the Sirius XM All-Star Futures game. Mckenzie only faced one batter but was able to get him to pop up to center. He was also selected to be a Carolina League All-Star and has been named pitcher of the week twice.
Mckenzie could be a huge addition to the Akron Rubberducks pitching staff who is second to last when it comes to ERA, strikeouts and last in innings pitched.
The only concern (which isn’t a concern) for Mckenzie is his velocity. Mckenzie is averaging 94 MPH on that fastball and can follow that up with a devastating curveball. 94 MPH is a good fastball, but there is not telling where Mckenzie’s fastball could end up.
He is 6-foot-5, 195 pounds, in case it wasn’t mentioned. Mckenzie is also only 19 years old. Since he is so tall he is throwing everything on a downhill plane. With excellent control for a teenager, we should see Mckenzie in Akron anytime now.