The Cincinnati Reds have selected outfielder Mac Wainwright (listed as Mackenzie some places) out of Lakewood St. Edward High School in the greater Cleveland area. The outfielder was not rated among the Baseball America Top 500, the MLB Pipeline Top 200, and was rated 152nd on the Fangraphs list.
Mac Wainwright Scouting Report
Height: 6′ 1″ | Weight: 211
B/T: R/R | DOB: August 6, 2002
Unrated on many of the national lists this year, injuries have kept Mac Wainright off of the field a little bit in the past. But when he’s on the diamond he’s a standout athlete. He’s a big, physical guy who can run. There’s a chance he’s able to remain in center field, though he’s got a big arm that would play well in right field if he would have to make that kind of move on the defensive spectrum. There’s some pop in his bat, too, with above-average to plus power potential down the line.
Nick Faleris of D1 Baseball noted that he just missed out on their Top 125 prospects in the draft.
He made our "125 to Know" and was probably about 20-30 spots from making the 125. We just lacked enough history with the profile to pull the trigger. https://t.co/zJQvyEj2KH
— Nick J. Faleris (@NickJFaleris) June 12, 2020
You’ll notice that Faleris notes that he stood out at the PBR Super 60 event. Their site, PrepBaseballReport.com noted that he had a top exit velocity of 104 MPH. If you watch the video below, which is from the event, you can see his size and where the power could come from down the line.
Sean Duncan of Prep Baseball Report noted in a tweet that Wainwright put up big Trackman numbers at the event. He also shared a slow-motion video in a tweet that’s available below in the video section.
Video
OF Mackenzie Wainwright (@PrepBaseballOH) was the big offensive breakout performer at #Super60. Balanced and explosive. Put up big @TrackManBB numbers .. Picked in 4th Round by #Reds. pic.twitter.com/6ULASIDAJu
— Sean Duncan (@SeanDuncan729) June 12, 2020
Mac Wainwright after being drafted by the Reds
“It helped me a lot (playing on the Reds team at the East Coast Pro events). I’ve known them (Reds scouts) for a couple of years now. Going out and playing for them at East Coast Pro, not really being able to play because I had the boot on (stress fracture), I was just talking to them constantly and getting to know them a little more, and they were getting to know me,” said Wainwright. “And then actually going out and playing for them in the fall in Jupiter. They got to see me play a little more, get to know me as a baseball player more. It was actually pretty impressive how much of a relationship we built. ”
“I didn’t have the strongest arm a year ago. Part of it was me just digging into myself and saying ‘you’ve got to get this going’ and also breaking down the mechanics and figuring out how to be more efficient with my mechanics and take up less time and get the ball out quicker,” said Wainwright on the improvement in his arm in the outfield. “The quicker I did that, I saw my velocity (on his throws) shoot up and it took three weeks – it was probably the most impressive three weeks I’ve ever had in baseball because it was so fast and it was something I was trying to figure out for years.”