If you've been following at home, you probably know by now that two particular areas of fruitful scouting for the Tom McNamara crew have been:
(1) hitters from the northeast part of the country (as McNamara himself was -- Dominican College, Orangeburg, NY) ... Dan Paolini (Siena), Dario Pizzano (Columbia), Patrick Kivlehan (Rutgers), Joe DeCarlo (Pennsylvania HS).
(2) pitchers from low-profile colleges in the south ... Stephen Pryor (Tennessee Tech), Carter Capps (Mount Olive College [NC]), Carson Smith (Texas State).
Well ... let's add two to the second category.
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Kevin McCoy is a former Kennesaw State Owl. The Owls make their nest on the northern outskirts of Atlanta. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound hard-throwing righty was drafted in the 24th round.
He was assigned to Rookie League in Arizona, which is low for a Division I college pitcher, but the Owls (Atlantic Sun Conference) are in the lower reaches of Division I.
So, I would agree that his stats there are somewhat suspect (facing mainly younger players without major-college experience), but he faced the batters he was sent out to face ...
and pulverized them into fine powder:
- Struck out 36 of the 102 batters he faced (13.3 K/9).
- ERA of 2.49 and FIP of 1.84.
- 1.11 WHIP.
- Allowed only three extra-base hits (2 doubles; 1 triple) for ISO-against of .046 (among the very best in the organization).
All of which earned him a brief cameo all the way up at AA Jackson. He pitched one game there (1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K) at the very end of the season.
That kind of cameo promotion is a sign that the club wants to see what they've got, so it's a good sign. Certainly he wasn't really challenged in Arizona, with no one getting good wood on the ball there.
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Emilio Pagan is a guy that we featured more in the recaps than McCoy, so he may already be familiar.
The 6-foot-3, 205-pound righty was taken in the 10th round out of Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina. The Crusaders are in the same conference as Capps' Mount Olive Trojans, though it appears that they would not have faced each other (Pagan only played at Belmont Abbey in 2012 and 2013 and Capps was drafted in 2011).
He was a two-way player (starter at 3b) in college, but even then he started a knack for scoreless streaks. Like the entire 2012 season, in which he pitched 19 innings without giving up a run.
For some reason, his 2013 college stats have disappeared from the digital world, but he started his pro career with an amazing streak, starting at Pulaski and then at Everett:
- 22.1 IP without yielding a run;
- striking out 31 of first 85 batters faced;
- walking only 5;
- allowing only one extra-base hit (a triple).
The streak ended on August 22, and on August 31 he got roughed up just a tad (even while striking out the side) as he allowed his only home run of the season (a two-run shot). He also made a playoff appearance, and once again struck out the side despite allowing an unearned run.
But at the end of the day, Pagan had an ERA of 1.03, an FIP of 1.83 and a K/9 of 12.0 and BB/9 of just 2.1.
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Pagan had the lower walk rate, but McCoy grades out as somewhat harder to hit.
That being said, they both have a lot to prove to reach Pryor-Capps-Smith status. But they are both off to interesting beginnings.