BISCUITS OPENER: McKay working through hardships to return to the Majors

Biscuits lefthander is back in Montgomery looking for a return to the Majors after several injuries sidelined his return over the last four years. (Courtesy Montgomery Biscuits)

By GRAHAM DUNN

Poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou is given credit for the suggestion that if you want to know where you are going, you have to know where you’ve been.

Few players can resemble that thought better than Montgomery pitcher Brendan McKay.

“I’m excited to be out of Florida,” McKay said. “Three of the last four years, dealing with injuries, and outside of surgery and holidays, I’ve been down there a lot. It’s been great to be out enjoying baseball.”

McKay and the Biscuits open a long homestand - 12 games - tonight against the Mississippi Braves in the first of six at Riverwalk Stadium. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.

To understand McKay’s journey and where it began, you have to go back prior to the year of COVID-19.

Coming out of the University of Louisville, McKay was a first-round pick of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2017 (fourth overall) and was on the fast track to stardom, both as a pitcher and an infielder.

Before Shohei Ohtani made the scene as a two-way player for the Los Angeles Angels, McKay was quickly moving through the Rays minor league system in that same vein, putting up good numbers as a hitter and gaudy stats as a starting pitcher.

He arrived in Montgomery in 2019 and made seven starts, recording a 3-0 record and an earned run average at 1.30. His 62 strikeouts in 42-and-a-third innings ranked among the best in minor league baseball.

Before the ’19 season ended, McKay was pitching for the Rays and in his first big-league start, he took a perfect game into the sixth inning against Texas in what became his first and only win in the majors.

He briefly returned to Triple-A Durham but he was back in Tampa and hit his first home run as a major leaguer against Boston a few weeks later.

But after a remarkable beginning to his career, McKay’s fortunes made a sudden detour.

He came down with COVID before the start of the 2020 season. He returned to workouts that August before getting shut down again due to shoulder tightness.

A few weeks later, the Rays announced the injury would require surgery, ending his season.

McKay returned to pitch again the next season only to suffer TOS, which is condition that affects the nerves, veins and arteries in the lower portion of the neck, or the thoracic outlet.

Another attempt to return in ’22 ended with an injury again as McKay needed Tommy John surgery in September.

At that point, the Rays released him two months later but signed him to a minor-league deal before the end of the year.

McKay did what he could to keep up his spirits and got help from teammates.

“Through the (winter months), a bunch of guys were encouraging me, talking with them again in spring,” he said. “It was really fun to talk with them and catch up.

McKay spent all of 2023 rehabbing for a return, while all that time itching to get back on the field.

“I would have liked to have thrown a few bullpens last year but I knew I’ve gone through a lot,” he said. “I had my expectations of what I wanted out of it but the ultimate goal was to feel good, do some stuff (at the Rays home, Tropicana Field), throwing (batting practice) in November, starting fresh.

“I’m as close to 100 percent as I’ve been in a while. It took me up until two months ago to get there. Over the last two months, things are progressing better. It’s getting a lot smoother and I pitch more efficient.”

Biscuits manager Kevin Boles was first introduced to McKay’s saga this spring and has been struck by his tenacity to play again.

“He’s handled a tough situation well and despite the disappointments he’s been through, he’s working through whatever it takes to get to the next level,” the new Montgomery manager said. “I think that speaks volumes of what kind of a person he is.

“He’s making remarkable improvement, considering (from) where he’s come. Our goal is to make sure he doesn’t do too much too soon but get him back to where he can pitch like he did when he first came up.”

The work paid off with McKay’s first appearance coming in Spring Training this past March when he started against Boston in what was the second game of the pre-season.

Shaking off the nerves, McKay pitched one inning of no-hit ball, striking out two.

“I think he appreciated the moment, knowing how hard he has worked to get back to this moment,” Rays manager Kevin Cash said after McKay’s return. “I asked him afterwards if he felt like he had made the turn and he said, ‘I think so.’”

The Rays brought him along slowly during the spring and assigned him to Montgomery with the idea of working him into a routine that, hopefully, will move the Pennsylvania native back to the big leagues, starting with the current stint with the Biscuits.

“I’m happy here,” McKay said. “We have a lot of guys at Triple A who are closer to getting to the bigs. I’m not there yet but they want to see a little bit more out of me and become more comfortable with what I do. I’d like to see that, too.

“He has a presence on the mound and that has shown up again this spring,” Bole added. “He’s tough as nails and the great thing for our players is he has instant credibility. What’s good to have him here is he has the presence of mind and understands what it takes to pitch in the big leagues.”

McKay’s first start in a regular season game came in the Biscuits’ first series against Biloxi. He threw just 37 pitches but flashed a lot of the skill that made him a No. 1 pick back in 2017.

How long McKay stays in Montgomery remains to be seen but to this point, he’s thankful to be anywhere throwing a baseball.

“To go out and have fun and be happy, that’s what matters,” he said. “Play baseball again. Go out and play and see where it takes me.”