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Louisville baseball: Brendan McKay doing double the work in the Minors

By Megan Brewer

SARASOTA, FL - FEBRUARY 23: Tampa Bay Rays players pause for a moment of silence to honor the 17 people killed during a mass shooting earlier this month at Stoneman Douglas High School prior to a Grapefruit League spring training game against the Baltimore Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium on February 23, 2018 in Sarasota, Florida. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
SARASOTA, FL - FEBRUARY 23: Tampa Bay Rays players pause for a moment of silence to honor the 17 people killed during a mass shooting earlier this month at Stoneman Douglas High School prior to a Grapefruit League spring training game against the Baltimore Orioles at Ed Smith Stadium on February 23, 2018 in Sarasota, Florida. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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The best player to come out of Louisville baseball, LHP Brendan McKay, is making big moves with Tampa Bay.

The Tampa Bay Rays No. 3 prospect and former Louisville baseball star, Brendan McKay, will be used as a designated hitter following a day off from pitching. McKay was the highest MLB Draft selection in University of Louisville’s history, going No. 4 overall to the Tampa Bay Rays.

He chose Louisville after being selected in the 34th by San Diego in the 2014 MLB Draft. In his three years at Louisville, he made a lasting impression both with numbers and as a player fans could love.

As a Cardinal, McKay ended his career with .328 batting average and 28 home runs. He ended his pitching career at Louisville with a 2.23 ERA with a career-high 15 strikeouts in seven scoreless innings against Pittsburgh in a 3-0 win on March 10, 2017.

McKay won all seven major national player of the year honors in 2017 as a Cardinal. He has the most strikeouts of any pitcher in Louisville history with 391 strikeouts and the second most wins in school history with a 32-10 record.

Brendan McKay was a beast on the field at Louisville, to say the least. He played hard every time he played and put his all into every game. He’s a player you wish could’ve stuck around forever, because when watching him, you knew you were watching history be made.

In his first year in the big leagues, McKay was on the disabled list twice but had a combined 5-2 record with a 2.41 ERA and 103 strikeouts the Midwest and Florida State Leagues and Rookie-level Gulf Coast League.

In his professional debut, the former Card had a 1.80 ERA and 1-0 record with Class A Short Season Hudson Valley.

He had a .214 batting average in 2018 between three levels.

The 23-year-old has a lot of work to do before his Major League as he’ll most likely start his 2019 season with Double-A Montgomery. He’s willing to choose one path and focus on it in his MLB career but will do what’s asked of him and the Rays want to try to bring him into the big leagues as a two-way player.

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If McKay plays as hard as he did in Louisville I have no doubt he’ll be up in the big leagues sooner rather than later. Seeing a former Louisville Cardinal take the big stage and hopefully hand out some strikeouts will be a well-awaited treat for any Louisville baseball fan.

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