Rays Go BOGO With Brendan McKay

Last weekend, the Rays offered buy-one-get-one baseball by staging the first scheduled doubleheader in the major leagues since 2011. Then they went BOGO in the draft by selecting Louisville two-way star Brendan McKay No. 4 overall with plans—initially anyway—to let him play first base and pitch.

“At this point, our plan is to continue to let him explore that,” Rays general manager Erik Neander said. “He’s probably the first guy, as long as we can remember, that has qualified on both sides of the ball to do this. We’re excited to get him in here and explore it further.”

Realistically, the challenge of being good enough to both hit and pitch—and be able to put in the requisite work to do so—at the major league level will be extreme, making it likely McKay will end up as one or the other.

But, as Neander said, the Rays—known for their creativity and outside-the-box thinking—might as well let McKay try to do both. “Let him put a cap on what he can do,” he said.

McKay, a three-time winner of the John Olerud Award as the top two-way collegian, said he thinks he could take the dual duty “a long way” and is excited the Rays will give him the opportunity.

“I think it can add a whole new level to baseball of having two guys in one who can do both and add a lot of potential to your team in many ways,” McKay said.

McKay confirmed reports that he turned down an offer from the Twins that would have made him the No. 1 overall pick. The Rays, with a $6.15 million slot value at No. 4, offered a higher bonus.

“(The Twins) had offered a number that we felt that we could get a better offer from another team,” McKay said, “and it ultimately came down to another team was able to give a better offer. So we went with that, and I’m happy things worked out. We get a good deal and a great organization to work with.”

McKay, the Baseball America College Player of the Year, headed to the College World Series hitting .343 with 17 home runs and 56 RBIs, while going 10-3, 2.34 ERA in 16 starts with 140 strikeouts in 104 innings.