Last Friday, I wrote this about Chicago Cubs outfield prospect Billy McKinney, who was in the middle of an insanely hot streak:
I will soon be writing about Carolina League Player of the Week, Billy McKinney. You watch.
I’d like to brag that I was right, but it was just too obvious. No credit for calling this one. McKinney winning the Carolina League’s Player of the Week honors was like calling the sunrise.
So, indeed, McKinney is the Carolina League’s Player of the Week after notching five multi-hit games during the week in question, with four doubles, two triples, and a homer. He walked eight(!) times and struck out just twice(!). You could not stop McKinney last week. By the way, he’s just 20 and in only his second full professional season. He’ll be at AA before too long, which is quite impressive.
On the year, McKinney leads the league in batting average (.340), on-base percentage (.432), slugging percentage (.544) and OPS (.976). He’s struck out just 13 times in 28 games, while walking 17 times. Overall, he’s easily been one of the best offensive performers in the system so far, and there have been plenty of them.