San Diego Padres prospect Alex McCoy is making his point the loudest way possible in the Arizona Fall League: with a bat that keeps producing absurdly hard contact.
McCoy launched a home run in the fourth inning of Peoria’s 8-5 loss to Scottsdale on Thursday at the Peoria Sports Complex, and the ball came off at 118.2 mph. It traveled 435 feet and, according to Sam Dykstra of MLB.com, it was the fourth hardest-hit ball ever since Statcast began tracking that data in 2015.
That’s the kind of number that turns heads fast, even in a setting built for prospect evaluation. The AFL is where players go to prove they can handle better competition, and McCoy is using the stage to show he can punish mistakes.
The pitch he drove out was an 89.3 mph sinker that leaked over the plate, and he didn’t waste it. McCoy said he had been late on a lot of fastballs lately, so he wanted to clean that up, and he got exactly the kind of result he was looking for.
This isn’t a one-night power spike, either. McCoy has been posting eye-catching exit velocities all season in the low minors. He hit a ball at 119.5 mph on a groundout for High-A Fort Wayne, and he reached 118 mph for Low-A Lake Elsinore.
The outfielder’s path is a little different from the typical blue-chip prospect. He played college ball at Hofstra and was coached there by former major leaguer Frank Catalanotto. Across 123 games between High-A and Double-A, McCoy put together a .278/.355/.467 slash line with 19 homers and 24 steals.
He’s also 24, which puts him in that tricky spot where the power is real but the prospect clock is ticking. San Diego sent him to Peoria to see whether that pop would carry against tougher pitching, and so far he’s answered.
There’s still the familiar strikeout issue hanging over it all. McCoy went down on strikes in each of his other three at-bats Thursday, and through his first stretch with the Javelinas, he’s 6-for-25 with two homers and 11 strikeouts, per Dykstra.
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