MLB: A’s sign outfielder who drafted nine years ago in first round

The Oakland Athletics announced the signing of outfielder Billy McKinney in a minor league deal. The deal includes an invitation to Major League Baseball spring training. It’s the third type of signing for the A’s on Wednesday, after a waivers claim from Sheldon Neuse and a blockbuster trade with the Blue Jays.

McKinney, now 27, had a breakneck 2021 season in which he dressed for three different teams. Among the Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers, the left-handed hitter slashed .192/.280/.358:

Only his 39-game stint with the Mets yielded positive offensive results (110 OPS+), but McKinney still provided additional defensive value in the outfield corners and first base for his 2021 employers.

The 6-foot-5 McKinney got one more employer in 2021, as an offseason deal between Los Angeles and Texas saw the Dodgers trade McKinney and outfielder Zach Reks for cash.

The Rangers held on to Reks but didn’t offer McKinney a week later, pushing the latter into free agency and setting him up for today’s meeting with the team that selected him 24th overall in the 2013 amateur draft.

Now that Oakland is in fire sale mode, McKinney has a reasonable chance to claim a spot on the team’s bench, with the possibility of more given the state of roster flux.

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While he has yet to find much consistency at the major league level, McKinney’s age, pedigree and Triple-A success suggest there are still advantages for both player and club.

Raphael Martinez

I am a fan of the King of Sports, especially the Boston Red Sox in MLB and all Mexican baseball in general. This profession has given me the opportunity to cover major events such as the Caribbean Series, LMB All Star, LMP (uninterruptedly since 2009), signatures of important players. I had the chance to attend the 2013 World Classic in Arizona, USA, although as a fan. Apart from this beautiful sport, I love basketball, where I have also narrated games and even an NBA friendly 10 years ago, but I have baseball in my veins. Degree in Communication Sciences from the Autonomous University of Sinaloa (UAS) , from which I graduated in 2011. I was born in Mazatlán, Sinaloa and started in the world of sports journalism in 2004 in the newspaper El Sol de Mazatlán, where I was a baseball columnist and a reporter at the same time. In January 2009 I arrived at El Debate as a journalist reporter and it was almost six years (in the first stage), until in November 2014 I emigrated to the radio providing my services at Línea Directa-Grupo RSN. My cycle there ended in July 2019 and a few days later, El Debate gave me another opportunity to work and opened the doors for me again. This is how I came to Al Bat, where I have been since 2019 as a web journalist.

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