Back when Brandon McIlwain was at the University of South Carolina, one would’ve wondered if baseball or football was his true calling. After all, any player who has something in common with Patrick Mahomes and Kyler Murray is an exciting prospect. While McIlwain was never quite on Mahomes’ or Murray’s level on the gridiron, he did put up a solid D1 college football sample size: His freshman year he had three starts in five games for the Gamecocks, and in his first year of football at Cal, he had over 1,000 yards of offensive production and four rushing touchdowns in 10 games.
After switching positions to a combination of running back and wide receiver during that 2018 season, he decided to direct all of his efforts to the diamond entering the 2019 baseball season. After starting the first 20 games and then breaking his foot near the end of the season, he was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 26th round of that year’s draft. Despite the injury and not signing with the Mariners, he was still clearly a prospect heading into the 2020 season due to his high ceiling and past pedigree on the field (Perfect Game All-American and Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year in high school).
Brandon McIlwain, Photo by Herm Card
The 2020 season resulted in a tough break for McIlwain along with many other collegiate athletes, but luckily he got a chance from the Mets who offered him the undrafted free agent deal. While he put up pedestrian numbers in his 16 games that spring before the shut down, he was a point of intrigue for the Mets.
His Mets Track Record
McIlwain spend all of 2021 in St. Lucie, split 2022 between Brooklyn and Binghamton, and split this season between Binghamton and Syracuse. His only below-average run so far was in Double-A in 2022, which he quickly amended with a solid tenure back there this year—his first time repeating a level in anyway. He’s been on a tear in Syracuse thus far, and at this point in the season, if anybody has a particularly hot 2-3 weeks, they could be knocking on the door to Queens if someone gets hurt.
He has to be feeling good about his momentum of steadily moving up the system, staying on the field all season for three straight years, and not hitting any roadblocks as he advances upwards.
The Nitty Gritty
The 25-year-old has steadily improved in each of his three seasons in the Mets minors despite advancing at least one level per season. He has been cutting down on his strikeout rate at the dish, which was a big concern at first, going from over 30% in 2021 to the mid 20s in both High-A and Double-A last year. He had a 20% K-rate in Double-A this year and so far is at just 19% in Syracuse. He has also cut down on ground ball, which is good considering his ability to hit the ball hard and the subsequent power potential.
He has elite exit velocities (110+ mph), and improved contact quality will directly lead to better results going forwards which is another reason why elevating balls and cutting down on strikeouts is so important. In essence, he still needs to improve on hitting the long ball but his engine has the horsepower to start leaving the yard more often.
His overall production has been steady in terms of OPS, but that is good considering his fairly rapid ascension from Low-A to AAA in these three seasons. He’s also had above-average seasons in terms of offense production in each year so far and is one home run away from his first double digit season.
2023 Improvements
As mentioned, he has a new career high in home runs along with walks, OPS, HBP, doubles, and hits. He also has a career low in strikeouts (with a career high in at-bats) and has been better than league average in Double-A and Triple-A.
His Triple-A OPS is sitting at a pretty .914 right now, and his Binghamton OPS, while just .735, was still slightly above league average. Even though his sample size is just 63 plate appearances in Syracuse, his walk rate has skyrocketed, and he has as many walks as strikeouts at the minors’ highest level.
The Future
While there’s an outside chance for anybody on the Syracuse roster to make it up to Queens this season, McIlwain more than likely will have a better chance of debuting next season. He will likely be invited to MLB spring training next year and can hopefully show continued improvements and power numbers to go along with his strong exit velocities and plate discipline.
Interestingly, he has been better against right-handed pitchers (.780 OPS) than left-handed pitchers (.660 OPS) despite having a slightly lower home run rate. At this rate, he could be an unusual platoon hitter for the Mets if this trend continues as lefty bats are harder to find and would typically platoon in this manner. His glove has been stellar in the outfield, so that will be another selling point going forwards. A quarterback’s arm won’t hurt, either. McIlwain has polished his game significantly and is an intriguing depth option in the outfield who still has potential to keep improving.
