A veteran of two TJ surgeries, McGraw finally gets to make his professional debut
When the Mariners selected RHP Teddy McGraw out of Wake Forest in the third round of the 2023 draft, they did so knowing McGraw, who had Tommy John surgery in high school and then a second TJ procedure prior to his junior year, would be unable to take a big-league mound until late 2024. Today, after a long process of recovery, McGraw is finally set to make his professional debut with the Modesto Nuts, Seattle’s Low-A club.
With a prototypical starter’s frame of 6’3”/210 and a track record of college success at Wake Forest with their vaunted pitcher’s lab, McGraw was was in the conversation as a possible first-round pick before he blew out his elbow again and missed his entire draft year. Strong and athletic with a fluid, repeatable delivery, he has a complete starter’s arsenal of two fastballs (four and two seam), plus a slider and changeup.
The Seattle Mariners have selected RHP Teddy McGraw. Had some day 1 buzz coming into 2023, but spent the season rehabbing from TJS. Premium velocity on his FB (has flirted with triple digits). Low release height, lethal high-spin SL. Love this pick for SEA.pic.twitter.com/olrxpns046
— Peter Flaherty III (@PeterGFlaherty) July 10, 2023
The four-seam has significant ride and has touched 98 in the past, although expect McGraw to work more in his historic range of 93-95. The two-seamer elicits a ton of ground balls thanks to some extreme armside run and is his go-to between the two fastballs. McGraw’s nastiest whiff-getter is his slider, which has plus spin (2800 rpm) and sharp two-plane movement. When batters make do contact with the pitch, they often pound it into the ground, as they also do with his changeup, the less-developed of his off-speed offerings.
“Teddy’s been doing great,” said GM Justin Hollander. “We obviously exercised a ton of caution with him, as it was his second Tommy John when we drafted him. He’s been throwing the ball exceptionally well in his rehab outings in the back fields in Arizona.”
The plan is for McGraw to start in Low-A Modesto, beginning with shorter outings (two innings) and building his way up to longer appearances. Hollander also indicated that McGraw would get in some reps in the fall, although whether that’s at the instructional league level or the more advanced Arizona Fall League remains to be seen.
For now, you can see McGraw today on MiLB TV as the Modesto Nuts take on the Inland Emprire 66ers at 6:05 PT. If you don’t have an MiLB TV subscription, you can always listen to the game for free through the MiLB app.
“It’s very, very loud stuff right now,” said Hollander. “We’re really excited to see what it looks like in Modesto on Sunday.”
