Colin McKee - August 2019
Photo by Jayne Hansen
Corpus Christi Hooks Pitching Coach Graham Johnson said of McKee, "He's had a really good year. Every year, you can slowly see the delivery becoming more consistent and obviously the energy within his delivery is more consistent. You're just hoping that he continues to build off that and I think when he stays in the things that he's trying to do consistently, I think you see the performance be consistent. He's always been that way in his work and you're just kind of waiting for everything else to catch up with the work he's been doing. He's had a tremendous year and I think it's a tip of the cap to him just continuing to refine the things that we're asking him to refine."
Asked about his improvement this season, McKee feels that his focus on that consistency from outing to outing has really paid off, "I think that was the big step this year as opposed to last year. It was kind of a mixed bag whether I'd come out and be really sharp or take a batter or two to get into the game. This year I've been a lot better starting from pitch one being sharp." He has also been working on attacking hitters with his fastball early, "getting into advantageous counts and then just executing when I get to two strikes with either quality offspeed pitches that are competitive but expanding the strike zone or elevating the fastball and putting guys away with that."
Obviously, that's always easier said than done, but one thing that really helped McKee was his trip to Puerto Rico to play winter ball in late 2018. In 10 appearances, McKee was 1-0 with five saves, a 0.00 ERA and a 0.484 WHIP. The success of his winter campaign went beyond that excellent stat line, though. McKee explained, "I think it really helped. You don't have Track Man there. You don't have Edgertronic. You don't have a coach dissecting what you do on a day-to-day basis. So you have to kind of teach yourself, like what feels good and what you need to do to get yourself ready to perform."
McKee continued, "It's a competitive environment. You've got to be your own coach. You've got to tinker with yourself. You learn a lot about yourself as a pitcher I think when you're down there. And I really liked it. It was beneficial. You've got to learn how to make the adjustments without having somebody else (telling you that) you've got to have your wrist here instead of there or stay behind the ball or load your hips. There's a ton of different mechanical things that a coach can see, but you have to learn how to feel it and that was really beneficial for me."
McKee spoke of his time on the island, "It was a learning experience and to learn that culture was fun. I enjoyed it a lot." But traveling through Puerto Rico for road games was a reminder that not all of the island has recovered from the hurricanes in 2017. "It made you feel for the people down there," said McKee. He wouldn't hesitate to repeat the experience, but not right away. "I'm probably not going to go the first half, give the arm a break. This year my workload's been higher than in years past and I'm kind of feeling it at this point in the year. I'm not injured, but it's August and some bumps and bruises and stuff. So I'm looking forward to giving my body a little bit more of a break. I'm thinking about, maybe for the second half. Puerto Rico, I know their season goes into January so maybe go down for that just to get some work before spring training."
McKee isn't one to make excuses for himself, but he did admit that the MLB ball being used in Round Rock took a little getting used to, "The way I throw my slider/cutter, it's all based on how it comes off my index finger and the feel of it coming off the different balls is definitely different and it's just something I have to adjust to. It kind of took me a while because my slider is my best pitch and not having that as consistent (in Round Rock) as it was (in Corpus), it was kind of difficult to make the adjustment."
McKee enjoyed other aspects of Round Rock a little better, "All the guys up there are awesome. Obviously, there's a ton of vets up there. There are guys who've played in the bigs and stuff. Like some of those (bullpen) guys have been around the block and they know what it takes to get professional hitters out, especially at that level and in the PCL which is an offensive paradise. Just being with them and kind of learning their mindsets and their mentalities was beneficial."
To keep moving forward as a player, McKee knows that he will have to keep building on what he's done this year and try to get his walk rate down, a rate that has sometimes been hampered by intentional walks and "unintentional intentional walks" issued as the game situation might dictate, particularly working around inherited runners. He is also working on a new weapon, "I have the fastball (low to mid-90's) and I have the hard cutter/slider and I've been working on a bigger slurve type pitch. Mixing that in to batters to get them off the timing of the harder fastball and the harder cutter, I think that's going to be a good step in the development. (The slurve) is just a kind of a different timing pitch that I'm not quite as comfortable with yet so I don't throw it nearly as high percentage wise. Like the last two times I've come in with guys on base and it's kind of a tighter situation so I'm more comfortable throwing the fastball and the slider combo."
McKee is not a stranger to hard work. When I saw him last season in Fayetteville, I was impressed by both his strength and his work ethic (and the fact that he does not skip leg days in the gym!). Johnson told me that McKee has always been a hard worker. McKee, Patrick Sandoval (now with the Angels) and Ronel Blanco were on Johnson's field during his first spring training and he would watch their competition to see who could outwork the others. He would practically have to drag them off the field. "(McKee is) a tremendous worker and that's what you're expecting. You've seen his talent level rise every year and it's because of the work that he puts in," said Johnson. With the kind of work and preparation McKee puts in, it is probably not a coincidence that he hasn't spent time on the IL since his rookie year.
Colin McKee - May 2018
Photo by Jayne Hansen
Off the field, there are no real surprises in the activities that McKee enjoys, from playing video games to golf and deer hunting to watching the NBA, NFL and the NHL (particularly his hometown Penguins) to hanging out with his girlfriend. Right now he's been enjoying playing with his host family's dogs as he mourns the recent loss of his childhood pet of almost 20 years back home. The fact that McKee is a dog person is probably the least surprising thing I learned about him. Personality-wise, McKee is extremely affable. I've never seen him with a frown on his face. He's good natured and humble and really easy to like.
But I was able to find one surprising fact about McKee. "I never really aspired to be a professional baseball player. I went to a Division 2 school and just played baseball to help pay for school. I was studying biology. I wanted to go to med school. And then I just started to throw a little bit harder, got good at baseball and ended up getting picked up and I'm still playing. I was never a prospect out of high school. I was throwing 86-88 at the most. Just kind of grew a little bit at the gym." A teammate of McKee's during his sophomore year (Dan Altavilla of The Mariners) took him under his wing and encouraged him to spend more time in the gym, throw long toss and such. "And then I started taking it a little more seriously after that," said McKee.
Yeah, I didn't see that one coming, Dr. McKee. Thank you for your time, Colin, and best of luck as your career continues.
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