Griff McGarry

Organization Prospect Rankings

• 
  Ranked Philadelphia Phillies #11 prospect in 2024
  BA Grade: 50/Extreme
  
  Track Record: Ever since his days at Virginia, McGarry has been a pitcher with tremendous stuff which has its effectiveness muted by poor control and command. The Phillies saw enough upside to take a chance on McGarry in the fifth round of the 2021 draft and sign him for $322,500. McGarry opened the season on the injured list but showed his signature mix of whiffs and walks at Double-A Reading before running into enough control problems at Triple-A to necessitate a stint on the Development List.
  
  Scouting Report: There’s zero doubt about the filthiness of McGarry’s stuff. At his best, his mix features a four-seam fastball that averages around 94 mph and has excellent life through the zone. Its quality is amplified by the low vertical approach angle in McGarry’s delivery. The righthander backs the heat with a filthy mid-80s slider with sweepy break. The Phillies are working with McGarry to shorten the pitch to help it land in the zone more often. McGarry also has a low-80s curveball he can flip in for a strike, as well as a cutter and changeup which are thrown in the high 80s and used sparingly. Now the Phillies need to figure out how to get him to throw just enough strikes to make his repertoire effective. To that end, they used the time away from competition to begin re-tooling McGarry’s delivery. They believe a shorter arm path and fewer big movements in his delivery will help him find the zone at somewhere near an average rate.
  
  The Future: If McGarry can get his delivery and control in a good place, he still has a slight chance to fit somewhere in a rotation. His more likely role, however, is as a fire-breathing monster in the late innings, though even that outcome will require him to throw strikes with more frequency and quality.
  
  Scouting Grades Fastball: 60 | Curveball: 40 | Slider: 60 | Changeup: 45 | Control: 40
• 
  Ranked Philadelphia Phillies #3 prospect in 2023
  BA Grade/Risk: 55/Very High
  
  Track Record: McGarry has always featured electric stuff, dating back to his collegiate days. But he struggled mightily to throw strikes at Virginia, walking 8.8 per nine innings in 134 frames for the Cavaliers over four seasons. The Phillies took a chance on his upside in the fifth round in 2021, and he immediately impressed in his debut following the draft, striking out 43 batters in 24.1 innings between Low-A Clearwater and High-A Jersey Shore. McGarry spent the 2022 season as a starter between High-A and Double-A Reading before he was pushed to the bullpen in late August due to a blister issue. He finished the season with seven appearances at Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
  
  Scouting Grades: McGarry's five-pitch arsenal stacks up well against any pitcher in pro baseball, with his four-seam fastball, cutter and slider all grading at a 115 or better on some Stuff+ models. His plus-plus four-seamer averages over 95 mph and tops out at 99 from a low slot with a heavy vertical approach angle and plus spin. He added a cutter to his arsenal this season. It's a mid-80s offering that tops out at 89 mph with elite spin rates that had a 49% whiff rate and a chase rate over 34%. His slider is a third plus offering. It's a swing-and-miss pitch with two-plane break and plus spin that sits in the mid 80s. He rounds out his arsenal with a low-80s curveball and high-80s changeup. The organization worked on making McGarry more directional toward home plate to improve his control and repeatability in his delivery, but there are still timing issues in his delivery that cause strike-throwing problems.
  
  The Future: McGarry's stuff fits at the top of a rotation, but his struggles with strike-throwing and execution could limit him to a back-end starter or lockdown closer role. The Phillies are still confident in his ability to start.
  
  Scouting Grades: Fastball: 70. Curveball: 50. Slider: 60. Cutter: 60. Changeup: 55. Control: 40
• 
  Ranked Philadelphia Phillies #12 prospect in 2022
  Track Record: McGarry struggled to throw strikes throughout his collegiate career at Virginia, walking 8.8 batters per nine innings. He compensated for it with three swing-and-miss weapons, posting 12.5 strikeouts per nine. The Phillies were willing to take a gamble on his pure stuff in the fifth round, and he rewarded them with an encouraging pro debut between the Class A levels. He rounded out the year in instructional league.
  
  Scouting Report: McGarry might have the best pure stuff of any pitcher in the system, with a 70-grade fastball and a pair of plus offspeeds in his slider and changeup. McGarry’s fastball was sitting 96-99 mph this summer, and his mid-80s slider is a dangerous swing-and-miss weapon with two-plane break. But McGarry will only go as far as his bottom-of-the-scale control takes him. This season he changed his delivery to make him more directional toward home plate, and the Phillies felt that change helped his control. The organization was impressed with his ability to throw strikes at instructs, and he also threw his changeup more during games this fall. The Phillies feel like McGarry could help them in the majors as soon as next year, but his control will need to improve for him to get to that point.
  
  The Future: McGarry should start the 2022 season back at High-A, but the Phillies will be aggressive in pushing him through the system. He has the stuff to be a mid-rotation starter, but will have to throw more strikes to get there.
  

Draft Prospects

• Ranked #308 prospect in 2021 draft
  McGarry has never had issues striking out batters, but he’s also never had issues walking them. Through the first 126.2 innings of his Virginia career, McGarry struck out 178 batters (12.6 K/9) but also walked 129 (9.2 BB/9). That sort of control will prevent him from having any significant role at the next level, but scouts keep coming back because McGarry’s stuff is so impressive and the rare times he’s locked in and throws the ball over the plate, he looks dominant. Take his outing against Dallas Baptist in the Super Regional as an example: he pitched seven shutout innings and allowed just two hits while striking out 10 batters and walking three. His fastball sits in the 93-94 mph range but gets into the upper 90s and he gets a ton of swings and misses on a low-80s slider that has plenty of two-plane break. On his best days, McGarry sits with a 70 fastball, plus breaking ball and plus changeup, but he also has bottom-of-the-scale control.
• Ranked #293 prospect in 2020 draft
  McGarry was a high-profile high school pitcher out of Northern California in 2017, ranking as the No. 174 prospect on that year’s BA 500. He showed off a 93-94 mph fastball and a potentially plus curveball but was expected to be a tough sign and make it to Virginia. He did get to campus, but McGarry hasn’t quite lived up to expectations. While McGarry still has a solid fastball that gets up to 96 mph, he’s struggled every year to throw strikes. McGarry’s career walk rate with Virginia is 8.8 batters per nine innings and the best mark he has posted was 8.2 per nine as a freshman. Those results have led some scouts to assess his command as 20-grade, the lowest on the scale. McGarry posted a 1.35 ERA this spring in four starts, but he still walked 19 batters in 20 innings. He still shows some ability to spin a slider, so the pure stuff is still in the tank, but unless a team believes they have a fix for his control issues, he could be a candidate to return to school for 2021.
• Ranked #174 prospect in 2017 draft
  McGarry, committed to Virginia, has an older brother Matt who pitches at Vanderbilt. Most scouts expect him to be very difficult to sign as he's academically oriented. However, he still was the best of a bad year for preps in Northern California. He has good size at 6-foot-2, 175 pounds, with some present strength but more to come. He's reached 93-94 mph with his fastball at times, sitting in the 88-92 range, with long levers and a three-quarters arm slot that he repeats relatively well. His best present pitch was a sharp, if at times slurvy, curveball. He throws it with good power at up to 77 mph, and it earns above-average grades with a chance to be plus in the future. McGarry's changeup is a distant third pitch at present.

• February, 2023 Scouting Report
  BA Grade/Risk: 55/Very High
  
  Track Record: McGarry has always featured electric stuff, dating back to his collegiate days. But he struggled mightily to throw strikes at Virginia, walking 8.8 per nine innings in 134 frames for the Cavaliers over four seasons. The Phillies took a chance on his upside in the fifth round in 2021, and he immediately impressed in his debut following the draft, striking out 43 batters in 24.1 innings between Low-A Clearwater and High-A Jersey Shore. McGarry spent the 2022 season as a starter between High-A and Double-A Reading before he was pushed to the bullpen in late August due to a blister issue. He finished the season with seven appearances at Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
  
  Scouting Grades: McGarry's five-pitch arsenal stacks up well against any pitcher in pro baseball, with his four-seam fastball, cutter and slider all grading at a 115 or better on some Stuff+ models. His plus-plus four-seamer averages over 95 mph and tops out at 99 from a low slot with a heavy vertical approach angle and plus spin. He added a cutter to his arsenal this season. It's a mid-80s offering that tops out at 89 mph with elite spin rates that had a 49% whiff rate and a chase rate over 34%. His slider is a third plus offering. It's a swing-and-miss pitch with two-plane break and plus spin that sits in the mid 80s. He rounds out his arsenal with a low-80s curveball and high-80s changeup. The organization worked on making McGarry more directional toward home plate to improve his control and repeatability in his delivery, but there are still timing issues in his delivery that cause strike-throwing problems.
  
  The Future: McGarry's stuff fits at the top of a rotation, but his struggles with strike-throwing and execution could limit him to a back-end starter or lockdown closer role. The Phillies are still confident in his ability to start.
  
  Scouting Grades: Fastball: 70. Curveball: 50. Slider: 60. Cutter: 60. Changeup: 55. Control: 40
• December, 2022 Scouting Report
  BA Grade/Risk: 55/Very High
  
  Track Record: McGarry has always featured electric stuff, dating back to his collegiate days. But he struggled mightily to throw strikes at Virginia, walking 8.8 per nine innings in 134 frames for the Cavaliers over four seasons. The Phillies took a chance on his upside in the fifth round in 2021, and he immediately impressed in his debut following the draft, striking out 43 batters in 24.1 innings between Low-A Clearwater and High-A Jersey Shore. McGarry spent the 2022 season as a starter between High-A and Double-A Reading before he was pushed to the bullpen in late August due to a blister issue. He finished the season with seven appearances at Triple-A Lehigh Valley.
  
  Scouting Grades: McGarry's five-pitch arsenal stacks up well against any pitcher in pro baseball, with his four-seam fastball, cutter and slider all grading at a 115 or better on some Stuff+ models. His plus-plus four-seamer averages over 95 mph and tops out at 99 from a low slot with a heavy vertical approach angle and plus spin. He added a cutter to his arsenal this season. It's a mid-80s offering that tops out at 89 mph with elite spin rates that had a 49% whiff rate and a chase rate over 34%. His slider is a third plus offering. It's a swing-and-miss pitch with two-plane break and plus spin that sits in the mid 80s. He rounds out his arsenal with a low-80s curveball and high-80s changeup. The organization worked on making McGarry more directional toward home plate to improve his control and repeatability in his delivery, but there are still timing issues in his delivery that cause strike-throwing problems.
  
  The Future: McGarry's stuff fits at the top of a rotation, but his struggles with strike-throwing and execution could limit him to a back-end starter or lockdown closer role. The Phillies are still confident in his ability to start.
  
  Scouting Grades: Fastball: 70. Curveball: 50. Slider: 60. Cutter: 60. Changeup: 55. Control: 40
• April, 2022 Scouting Report
  BA Grade: 55/Extreme
  
  Midseason Update: McGarry has one of the loudest pitch mixes in the minor leagues, with a fastball that regularly sits in the mid 90s and tops out at 99 mph from a low slot, an above-average sweepy slider with plus potential, a cutter and a changeup that flashes plus. McGarry has improved his walk rate drastically from his college days at Virginia, but doesn&#39t yet throw enough strikes to profile as more than a back-end starter. If his strike throwing improves he has mid-rotation or better upside.
  
  Track Record: McGarry struggled to throw strikes throughout his collegiate career at Virginia, walking 8.8 batters per nine innings. He compensated for it with three swing-and-miss weapons, posting 12.5 strikeouts per nine. The Phillies were willing to take a gamble on his pure stuff in the fifth round, and he rewarded them with an encouraging pro debut between the Class A levels. He rounded out the year in instructional league.
  
  Scouting Report: McGarry might have the best pure stuff of any pitcher in the system, with a 70-grade fastball and a pair of plus offspeeds in his slider and changeup. McGarry&#39s fastball was sitting 96-99 mph this summer, and his mid-80s slider is a dangerous swing-and-miss weapon with two-plane break. But McGarry will only go as far as his bottom-of-the-scale control takes him. This season he changed his delivery to make him more directional toward home plate, and the Phillies felt that change helped his control. The organization was impressed with his ability to throw strikes at instructs, and he also threw his changeup more during games this fall. The Phillies feel like McGarry could help them in the majors as soon as next year, but his control will need to improve for him to get to that point.
  
  The Future: McGarry should start the 2022 season back at High-A, but the Phillies will be aggressive in pushing him through the system. He has the stuff to be a mid-rotation starter, but will have to throw more strikes to get there.
  
  Scouting Grades: Fastball: 70. Slider: 60. Changeup: 60. Control: 30
• December, 2021 Scouting Report
  Track Record: McGarry struggled to throw strikes throughout his collegiate career at Virginia, walking 8.8 batters per nine innings. He compensated for it with three swing-and-miss weapons, posting 12.5 strikeouts per nine. The Phillies were willing to take a gamble on his pure stuff in the fifth round, and he rewarded them with an encouraging pro debut between the Class A levels. He rounded out the year in instructional league.
  
  Scouting Report: McGarry might have the best pure stuff of any pitcher in the system, with a 70-grade fastball and a pair of plus offspeeds in his slider and changeup. McGarry’s fastball was sitting 96-99 mph this summer, and his mid-80s slider is a dangerous swing-and-miss weapon with two-plane break. But McGarry will only go as far as his bottom-of-the-scale control takes him. This season he changed his delivery to make him more directional toward home plate, and the Phillies felt that change helped his control. The organization was impressed with his ability to throw strikes at instructs, and he also threw his changeup more during games this fall. The Phillies feel like McGarry could help them in the majors as soon as next year, but his control will need to improve for him to get to that point.
  
  The Future: McGarry should start the 2022 season back at High-A, but the Phillies will be aggressive in pushing him through the system. He has the stuff to be a mid-rotation starter, but will have to throw more strikes to get there.
  
• July, 2021 Scouting Report
  McGarry has never had issues striking out batters, but he's also never had issues walking them. Through the first 126.2 innings of his Virginia career, McGarry struck out 178 batters (12.6 K/9) but also walked 129 (9.2 BB/9). That sort of control will prevent him from having any significant role at the next level, but scouts keep coming back because McGarry's stuff is so impressive and the rare times he's locked in and throws the ball over the plate, he looks dominant. Take his outing against Dallas Baptist in the Super Regional as an example: he pitched seven shutout innings and allowed just two hits while striking out 10 batters and walking three. His fastball sits in the 93-94 mph range but gets into the upper 90s and he gets a ton of swings and misses on a low-80s slider that has plenty of two-plane break. On his best days, McGarry sits with a 70 fastball, plus breaking ball and plus changeup, but he also has bottom-of-the-scale control.