According to Ben Wagner of Sportsnet, the Toronto Blue Jays will promote outfielder Billy McKinney from Triple-A Buffalo and in a corresponding move place catcher Luke Maile on the paternity list.
The Blue Jays acquired Billy McKinney in the J.A. Happ trade with the New York Yankees at the end of July. The 23-year old hasn’t exactly hit the cover off the ball since joining the Bisons, in 20 games with Buffalo, McKinney is hitting .203/.292/.453 with three homers in 72 plate appearances.
McKinney made his MLB debut earlier this season playing two games for the Yankees and notching a single in four trips to the plate. Ironically he was injured on an outfield play at the Rogers Centre that cut his cup of coffee in the show short.
The former first-rounder of the Athletics sports a career .269/.348/.429 line with 57 home runs in 618 minor league games. McKinney has been traded by the A’s, Cubs and Yankees thus far in his professional career as he gets set to make his major league debut with Toronto.
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The Jays will run with Russell Martin and rookie Danny Jansen behind the dish while Luke Maile is away from the team on paternity leave. Jansen has impressed both offensively and defensively in his first three games with the big club. Martin has been relegated to third base for most of the past week as Jansen and Maile have taken care of the catching duties.
Mckinney is just another chapter in the current youth movement that has swept over Toronto. So far the likes of Lourdes Gurriel Jr. Ryan Borucki, Sean Reid-Foley, Thomas Pannone, and Jansen have all made their MLB debuts this season.
This latest roster move will afford the Jays the opportunity to get a closer look at McKinney and get a feel for where he ranks in the outfield pecking order moving into 2019.