Future Games Spotlight: Matthew McCauley

Matthew McCauley LHP / 1B / Highland , VA / 2026

Strong and durable 6-foot-3, 211-pound frame. Light effort, short arm action, and maintains solid hand and arm speed on the secondary. The fastball sat 85-86 with some run from his lower three-quarter slot. McCauley showed four pitches in his short two innings of work and displayed the ability to throw all three secondary pitches for a strike. The cutter was 80-81 mph, slider 75-77, and changeup 77-78. 

McCauley absolutely dominated his two innings of work, including striking out the side in the first versus three physical left handers. In his first inning, he used all four pitches and produced some pretty tough swings from opposing hitters. The new Highland left hander was uber-efficient in the zone. Using just over twenty pitches to get through two pretty clean innings of work. 

The velo has fluctuated at times this summer, but he is usually sitting in the mid 80's and may flash a 7 or 8. Next step for McCauley? While the Hawks have a ton of depth on the mound, McCauley has a chance to solidify a role within that staff due to his pitchability and upside. With that being said the biggest next step from McCauley should come in the velo department, and the ability to maintain that velo within a start, as well as from outing to outing.