Mason McGwire – Picture by Rich Biesterfeld
Welcome to the beginning of my offseason profile series! This type of series has been something I do for about a 10 week period. It keeps me busy until spring training starts. Each year, there us a theme to the series. Last year it was the 5 series where I looked at at five things a prospect needed to do in the coming year. This year’s theme is a fun one! I will be checking out guys who could possibly break out in 2024! Most of those players are going to be at Myrtle Beach with a couple in South Bend and maybe one or two in the Arizona Complex League.
Let’s get going!
The Cubs took right-handed pitcher Mason McGwire in the 2022 draft in the eighth round. Yes, he is Mark’s son, but that doesn’t begin to define him especially since Mason is a pitcher. Shortly after being drafted, there were several articles floating around the Internet where Mark talked glowingly about Mason‘s desire to pitch for the Cubs because of their pitching lab. It’s someplace that Mason felt at home. A sponge for technology, Mark felt that Mason would fit right in as part of the Cubs’ organization. One thing I’ve heard about McGwire behind the scenes that he does work hard and he’s a sponge for knowledge.
Coming into the system, McGwire was known for having a splitter as his main weapon and that he was still physically growing into his body. In fact, he is probably going to be doing that for a few years. At just 190 pounds, he could easily add 20 pounds of muscle and still be pretty flexible out there on the mound.
The 6-foot-4 then 18-year-old did not pitch after signing. That’s not uncommon at all for starting pitchers to skip throwing that first year. McGwire did debut in 2023 in the Arizona Complex League at the age of 19. It was not the best of summers. In fact, I would not put too much stock in his stats from that first year, as he still learning how to pitch against advanced competition.
Mason got in 35 innings in 2023. His ERA was 9.42. That might set off some alarm bells for you. But let’s stick to the positive side and look at those numbers as just a starting point. He is still just 19 today and last year he would’ve been a freshman in college. Mason probably would not have played a lot on a D1 staff, except out of the bullpen. In his 11 appearances as a Cub, 10 of them were starts and he more than likely would not have gotten that opportunity at a big college program. McGwire did strike out over a batter an inning as he had 36, but he also walked 29 and had a batting average against of .327.
One way I look at his is that those stats are from a developmental league. There were many nights where he could have, and probably should have, been working on his stuff and refining grips and the like. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn’t. And just because it worked one inning or one batter didn’t mean it worked the next. So, building consistency is going to be a key.
No one said developing pitchers was easy. With McGwire, you almost have to look at his first three years of his pro career as his college experience where he’s learning what pitches to throw, what grips to use, and how to use those pitches in concert with each other to get outs. In addition, There is the natural physical maturation of a teenager. Over the next two years, McGwire has a foundation of which to adapt and improve.
For McGwire, being a full-time pitcher in 2023 had to be quite the learning experience, both physically and mentally. He can take what he learned about how to take care of his body and improve ways in which he can sustain the grind of a full season of baseball. And there’s nothing wrong with making changes as long as they are healthy and sustainable.
McGwire is going to be in Arizona this spring for minor league spring training. The improvements that he’s made over the winter will really determine where he goes to start his second season. By the time April rolls around, the future 20-year-old will most likely start the year in extended spring training. He has an outside shot of going to Myrtle Beach but that really depends upon how he does out in Mesa in March. If the Cubs are feeling good about adaptations he’s made, and they think that he can mentally handle the grind of 140 game season at age 20, then he’ll be in Myrtle Beach. When the time comes that he’s improved, then he can take that next step to Myrtle Beach. It could be May, it could be June, it could be any time.
I am hoping that McGwire will breakout with his performance and skillset. He might be one of those players that breaks out slowly over the course of a couple of seasons. It might be gradual, it might be quick. We’ve seen it happen with different players both ways. To be quite frank, either way would work out the same if he’s in South Bend in 2025 at 21 years old, which is still pretty young for High-A (23 is the average age there). That will be just fine.
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