Mets’ McGeorge Finds Role In Relief
NEW YORK—Austin McGeorge focused on third base for most of his prep career at Canyon High in Anaheim. Then he got serious about pitching his senior year.
That resulted in a chance to walk on at Long Beach State. And that resulted in the Mets selecting the 6-foot-2 righthander in the seventh round last month.
The 21-year-old McGeorge made his pro debut at short-season Brooklyn on June 25. He throws a four-seam fastball, sinker and slider. He’s also working on a changeup. He relies on his sinker, which sits at 88-91 mph and tops out at 92.
“The changeup is slowly coming in,” McGeorge said. “I’m learning a lot here from the pitching coach (Billy Bryk Jr.), and a lot of the guys are teaching me the changeup, so I’m starting to throw that a little more.”
LBSU head coach Troy Buckley attended the final prep game McGeorge pitched and ended up inviting him to walk on.
“I had absolutely no offers,” McGeorge said. “To be honest, I didn’t know if I was going to go to juco to pitch, or just go to school to go to school.
“(Buckley) brought me around campus . . . and he said, ‘It’s between you and another guy, and we’re not quite sure who we’re going to give the open walk-on spot to.’ So I just texted a couple of times, ‘Hey, I really would love to be a Dirtbag.’ A couple of weeks later he called me up and said, ‘Hey, it seemed like you really wanted to come here more than the other guy did.’ So they gave me a shot.”
McGeorge worked exclusively as a reliever in college. In 33 appearances this season, he recorded a 1.02 ERA and .197 opponent average. He struck out 76 in 53 innings.
“My approach in college was just to get ahead early and try to put them away late,” McGeorge said. “. . . Even though I had a high strikeout rate, my main goal wasn’t to strike these guys out. I’m going to pitch down in the zone. I’m going to get ahead. And then I’m going to make sure I put them away.”
METAMORPHOSES
• The Mets promoted shortstop Amed Rosario, the system’s top prospect, to Double-A Binghamton on June 23 after he hit .309/.359/.442 in 66 games at high Class A St. Lucie.
• Lefthander Darin Gorski, who departed as a minor league free agent last November, returned to the organization after a stint with Somerset in the independent Atlantic League.
Comments are closed.