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Brendan McKay Approaching a National Record

April 24, 2014

By Greg Williams
PA Director of Scouting

If what Brendan McKay did in his first three seasons of scholastic baseball at Blackhawk High School were not impressive enough, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound senior is putting up cartoon like numbers in his final season for good measure.

McKay entered the 2014 campaign with a career record of 22-1 on the mound with just 18 runs allowed in 191 innings, 13 of which were earned. The left-handed hitter is also one of the most feared hitters in Pennsylvania, hitting over .500 for much of the 2013 season.

The Louisville recruit went 7-0 on the hill during his junior season with a 0.09 ERA, finishing the campaign on a 24 inning scoreless streak. He struck out 101 batters in 53 innings of work and allowed just one earned run all year.

In addition to being named the Prep Baseball Report District 7 player of the year, the member of Team Pennsylvania at the 2012 Midwest Future Games was also named the Gatorade Player of the Year for Pennsylvania in 2013.

McKay has not rested on the success of his first three seasons, he has actually made the previous numbers pale in comparison to what he has done in the first half of his final season in a Cougars’ uniform. Following yesterday’s complete game shutout win over Central Valley, McKay has run his consecutive scoreless innings streak to 51 innings.

McKay is now 4-0 (26-1 in his career) with 64 strikeouts in 27 innings pitched this spring. He has authored four complete game shutouts while recording 20 strikeouts in a game twice. McKay has yielded just seven hits on the season.      

Brendan McKayWhat might make the ridiculous start to this season even more impressive is that McKay is doing it in front of an ever growing crowd of pro scouts on a nightly basis. The question is will his stuff translate to major Division I baseball or potentially professional baseball?

That question was likely answered emphatically when McKay traveled to Arizona to play some exhibition games against minor league players with the Langley Blaze from British Columbia in March. Sitting in the upper 80s while flashing low 90s readings with his fastball, McKay struck out 22 hitters during three outings totaling 12 innings. He appeared in games against A and AA prospects from three different organizations. His 12/6 curveball, vastly improved changeup and his complete confidence in every pitch make him a very interesting draft prospect.

Depending on how deep Blackhawk, currently #7 in the PBR Super 16 Class 3A rankings, advances in the playoffs, McKay could make an additional 8 or 9 starts this season. Based on what he has done to date in his career the national record for consecutive scoreless innings is definitely a possibility. Someone might want to begin looking for Joey Porter’s phone number to let him know his record is in jeopardy.


nfhs consecutive scoreless innings all-time leaders

Record

Holder

State

Data

80

Joey Porter

MS

(South Natchez Adams), 1973

72 1/3

Mike Halperin

FL

(Naples Barron Collier), 1991

59

Jerry Jordan

CA

(Avenal), 1970

57

Jim Jackson

NE

(Omaha Creighton Prep), 1969

55

David Clyde

TX

(Houston Westchester), 1972-73

55

Wayne Nix

CA

(Sepulveda Monroe), 1995

54

Mike Welker

CA

(Chico Pleasant Valley), 1967

53

Denny LeMaster

CA

(Oxnard), 1958

52

Scott McGregor

CA

(El Segundo), 1972

52

Jason Codiroll

CA

(San Jose Mitty), 2005


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