MLB: Draft 2018: Pitcher Shane McClanahan in portrait

Shane McClanahan is the Ace of the University of South Florida and will be one of the top talents in the MLB Draft 2018. SPOX introduces the Maryland-born pitcher.

The 2018 draft class is said to be weak overall. But at the top of MLBPipeline’s top 100 list are a few candidates who are already very far ahead and who could face potentially great careers. One of them could be Shane McClanahan. The left-hander brings with him a quality that is difficult to learn and in great demand today.

McClanahan is the Ace of South Florida. The Lefty is a Redshirt sophomore and on the verge of being one of the most highly drafted left-handers in the draft. You shouldn’t let the Redshirt design influence you too much – he started his career as a Redshirt because he had to undergo a Tommy John Surgery in 2016, which cost him the season. In 2017 he used to find his way back into the track, so he was carefully put in and barely pitched past the sixth inning. This was still true in 2018, but for other reasons.

Its biggest unique selling point is its fastball speed. Several scouts reported that he reached at least 100 miles per hour on several occasions. As left-handed. Only six left-handers have thrown a fastball at least 100 miles per hour in the MLB in 2017!

The problem with McClanahan, however, is that he sometimes suffers from control problems and consequently throws extremely many pitches, which then shorten his starts. Specifically: While his control of pitches to the right side is good, he tends to let pitches to his left side sail. Once he threw his wrestler so clearly that he fired over the backstop – the boundary behind the Home Plate!

He throws a total of four pitches, a fastball, changeup, slider and curveball. His probably best pitch seems to be the changeup, which he becomes in exactly the same motion he uses for the fastball. The pitch is 6 to 10 miles per hour slower and is characterized by late movement. It is also the pitch he controls best.

His Curveball seems to be still expandable, while the Slider can be described as “in development”. Here there is probably still some lack of control, moreover it tends to become too flat, so it gets too little refraction in the flight curve. But these are things that can be eradicated with targeted training.

In general, however, McClanahan has the confidence to throw all his pitches at any time: “I feel comfortable with everyone. And he continued: “If you have a 3-2 count, it doesn’t matter if you want to throw a fastball, slider, curveball or changeup. I feel like I can throw all those pitches and get an out. “It’s cool to strike people out, but it’s also cool to put in a five-pitch inning.”

McClanahan has meanwhile taken an interesting personal development since joining the South Florida Bulls. As his mother, Lisa McClanahan, told tampabay.com, he used to be more camera-shy: “He never liked being photographed. Sometimes on opening day in the Little League, he’d hide when the team photos were in line.”

In addition, he initially seemed rather nervous about the increased pressure in college. “As a young freshman he had that’Deer in the Headlights’ look,” recalled Bulls coach Billy Mohl, who rose to head coach in 2018 after three years as the team’s pitching coach. “I watched him grow as a human over the last three years. This also helped him a lot in his development in the field.”

Originally McClanahan comes from Baltimore, which explains his USF-back number: The 8, like once Cal Ripken Jr.! Later the family moved to Cape Coral/Florida.

In general, his youth was a very important factor in his later development. In his early childhood, McClanahan wanted to play nothing more than baseball. His mother played a big part in this. She pitched for him on the street. Initially they played Wiffle Ball, after Shane had mastered it, Lisa went over to throw golf balls to him.

That went so far that they had to change direction at some point, for fear that Shane might hit windows of houses. Later, she even paid two twelve-year-olds to play baseball with her son, “because that was all he wanted to do,” as his mother reported.

Pitching was not the focus of McClanahan’s attention until he finally went to high school. In principle, he played all positions like “Bugs Bunny”. Strange: Even as a left-handed wrestler he tried his hand at the Little League, which is of course not usual in the professional field.

After his pitching debut, he promptly moved to Southwest Florida Baseball, Inc. (SWFL) Travel Team. Today’s coach Robbie Lawrence remembered: “He had a really good presence on the mound, was confident, competitive and had great control over three pitches. Lawrence accompanied McClanahan as a pitching coach at Cape Coral High School during his freshman and senior year.

However, McClanahan only really came into the focus of pro and college scouts with a growth leap between his junior and senior year in high school. From 1.72 meters it went promptly up to 1.85 meters. “I remember people saying,’What the hell happened to you?'” This was accompanied by an increase in the speed of its pitches.

As far as his draft perspectives are concerned, the situation is not new for him now. It was first drawn in draft in 2015. The Mets hit in the 26th round (779th pick), but McClanahan preferred college. This year, however, it should be the first round and probably even the top ten. And then the shy boy from Maryland comes a big step closer to his big Big League dream.

This article was published without previous view by the Major League Baseball.