Colorado Rockies Prospect Countdown

The Colorado Rockies prospect countdown continues with the number nine spot on the list. Today, we take a look at the top corner infield prospect in the franchise.

#9: Ryan McMahon

Position: 1st/3rd Base

Bats/Throws: L/R

Age: 22 (December 14th, 1994)

Height/Weight: 6’1″, 180 lbs

Highest Level Reached: Double-A Hartford

Estimated Big League Arrival: 2018

One Sentence Summary: When he hits the ball, it goes a long way, but major contact issues are threatening to derail this slugger’s ascent to the big leagues.

If you’re a regular reader here at Rox Pile, you might remember an article I wrote about McMahon last August. If you don’t recall, that article expressed concern that McMahon, a dominant power hitter in the lower minors, was swinging and missing more often than he should be in Double-A. Unfortunately, not much has changed since then.

McMahon, a second-round pick out of high school in the 2013 draft, had three strong seasons to start his professional career. In 2015, McMahon posted a .300/.372/.520 line with Modesto in the California League. The scouting community noticed. After the season, Baseball America called him the Rockies fifth-best prospect, three spots ahead of Trevor Story.

Obviously, 2016 did not go nearly as smoothly for McMahon. His batting average dropped over 50 points from the year before, and his slugging percentage was just .399, down more than 100 points from his previous career-low.

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McMahon was just 21 years old last season and faced the toughest (and mostly older) competition of his life thus far in Double-A, so it might seem easy to write the year off as a bump in the road. But McMahon’s inability to make contact at the plate consistently is a troubling sign for his future.

McMahon struck out in just over 30% of his at-bats last season. That’s not just a red flag, that’s a blaring alarm that something is wrong. More distressingly, McMahon’s power was absent far too often in 2016. He only hit 12 home runs in 466 ABs with Hartford, then followed that up with just a single bomb in 89 plate appearances in the Arizona Fall League.

McMahon’s issues with contact didn’t just lead to strikeouts, it led to more weak contact than ever before. McMahon teed off on hittable mistakes over the plate in the lower levels, but if he wants to get back on track, he has to figure out a way to cover more of the plate.

That’s especially true for McMahon because if he’s going to crack Colorado’s big league roster any time soon, he’ll have to do it on the strength of his bat. McMahon played first and third base in 2016, but unless something happens to Nolan Arenado, first base seems like the only logical fit, and even that is more complicated now that Ian Desmond just signed on to be a Rockie through 2022.

At just 22 years old, it’s too soon to write McMahon off as a prospect just yet. He’s a pretty decent athlete, especially if he’s going to be playing first base. And more importantly, McMahon’s power is a special gift that can’t be learned, as demonstrated by the way he drives this pitch over the left field fence:

Next: Is Raimel Tapia's Future Blocked in Denver?

That result is what gets scouts excited about McMahon, but we saw it far too rarely in 2016. It’s not the end of the road for McMahon, but another season with huge strikeout numbers without the homers to match and you can bet that he won’t be back on this list in 2017.

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Colorado Rockies Prospect Countdown – #9: Ryan McMahon