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Twins Trade Ryne Harper to Nationals for minor league pitcher

Seth Stohs

By Seth Stohs
in Minnesota Twins Talk

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Seth Stohs GOAT

Seth Stohs

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The Twins traded recently-DFAd RHP Ryne Harper to the Washington Nationals in exchange for RHP Hunter McMahon. 

 

McMahon was the Nationals 9th round pick in 2019 from Texas State U. He's 21 and spent last year at two rookie league levels.

Dman Wichita Wind Surge

Dman

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I was hoping they could manage a trade and they did it!  For a guy on an MILB invite last year who helped the MLB pen early in the season we get a guy we can look at for four more years and hopefully he makes it all the way.  Definitely better than letting Harper go for nothing.  Good job FO.

Diesel FCL Twins

Diesel

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Did extremely well at Rookie ball last year and A-. combined 0.71 era with 18 Ks in 12.2 innings in 9 appearances. Very good deal for the twins.

amjgt FCL Twins

amjgt

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Makes me think there must have been several teams who wanted Harper, which allowed the Twins to ask for a little bit more than a "normal" DFA trade.

twins_89 First Round Pick

twins_89

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Getting anything more than cash is a win. Good job by the front office to turn a guy with no value before last season into basically a 9th round draft pick.

MMMordabito Ft Myers Mighty Mussels

MMMordabito

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Getting anything more than cash is a win. Good job by the front office to turn a guy with no value before last season into basically a 9th round draft pick.

 

Not to mention getting some helpful innings out of him while May and Duffey were figuring it out and Blake Parker was auditioning for the 2012 Twins.

Doctor Gast Wichita Wind Surge

Doctor Gast

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I was hoping they could manage a trade and they did it!  For a guy on an MILB invite last year who helped the MLB pen early in the season we get a guy we can look at for four more years and hopefully he makes it all the way.  Definitely better than letting Harper go for nothing.  Good job FO.

Yes, great job! Wish Harper well

IndianaTwin Wichita Wind Surge

IndianaTwin

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The biggest Harper acquisition the Nationals have ever made!

 

He should ask for No. 34 so he could point out to his friends all the people with Ryne Harper jerseys.

AceWrigley FCL Twins

AceWrigley

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I think there was multi-team interest, and Harper is optionable so that gives him more value too. Good breaking stuff, will probably get some innings in the Nats pen this year.

wallyrichards Prep Ball

wallyrichards

Provisional Member
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Harper was really solid earlier in the season but once the hitters had a little time to adjust to his style he got hammered. Great curve ball/breaking ball that he could throw at a number of speeds but he didn't like throwing his fastball and for good reason. He didn't have that over powering fastball and he became predictable. The Hitters started timing his curve ball and the gig was up. I liked Harper and Hildenberger guys who've probably been told they don't have what it takes but through perseverance and determination they find a way to get it done. Wish both of them good luck.

Otto von Ballpark All-Star

Otto von Ballpark

Old-Timey Member
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If he continues where he left off in 2019, McMahon could potentially reach AAA by August. Nice move by the FO. Keep on building up that bullpen depth.

 

Let's pump the brakes here.

 

It's a good deal, just because we didn't really need Harper and there's no cost to having McMahon around for the next few years.

 

But McMahon was a college draftee, pitching about once a week in relief in short season A- (not even regular A). The Twins don't even have an A- affiliate, which suggests how valuable this level is for player development.

 

Again, good trade, but there's not much of a trend to continue yet for McMahon. We have no idea at this point how he will fare in regular use against full season competition.

Otto von Ballpark All-Star

Otto von Ballpark

Old-Timey Member
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Looks like McMahon has a little bit of a control issue to work on.

How so? Extremely small sample, but his walk rate in pro ball was perfectly fine, as it was in college last year too (notably lower than his conference's walk rate).

 

His HBP number in college seems high, but it was actually the same rate as his whole conference (which was almost 3 times the MLB rate).

SomeGuy Draft Eligible

SomeGuy

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Summary from Jim Callis at the time of the draft last year.

 

Callis: “Hunter McMahon is a red-shirt sophomore, 6’3’’, 185, former Tommy John guy, has had Tommy John in his past, but it’s a good arm action, he’s up to 94, sinking and boring action on the fastball, he’s got good life on the changeup too, and a curveball in the upper 70s with some nice break on it as well, so he’s kind of interesting."

Otto von Ballpark All-Star

Otto von Ballpark

Old-Timey Member
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From a couple Nationals sites last summer:

 

https://www.nationalsarmrace.com/?p=15883

 

 

9th round: 274 overall: Hunter McMahon, a RHP starter for Texas State.  He’s a RS sophomore, so this isn’t a senior slot savings pick.  He was a weekend starter for Texas State with crummy numbers on the season, but some flashes of brilliance (a complete game with 11 Ks and 0 walks against Louisiana-Lafayatte for example).  BA has little to no scouting on the guy.

 

And

 

https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/nationals/recapping-washington-nationals-2019-mlb-draft-picks

 

 

A Tommy John guy, McMahon went 5-5 with one save, a 4.72 ERA (46 ER/7.2 IP) and 71 strikeouts in 17 games. 2019 marked his first season at Texas State after transferring from Coffeyville Community College.

 

Otto von Ballpark All-Star

Otto von Ballpark

Old-Timey Member
Posted
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https://redravenathletics.com/sports/bsb/2017-18/bios/mcmahon_hunter_c1pu?view=career&pos=p

 

At community college 2017-18, he put up a 6.63 ERA in 7 starts plus 3 relief appearances.

 

I didn't locate any stats from his years at Staley High School in KC, nor any indication at all of where he played Little League. :)

I have to admit, I looked that up too -- but at the Baseball Cube:

 

http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?ID=220593

 

More accurately, it was just 2018, as he didn't pitch in 2017 as a redshirt freshman. I wonder if 2018 was his first season back after Tommy John surgery?

Dman Wichita Wind Surge

Dman

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Yeah not a lot of 9th rounders make it and his college numbers don't look very impressive but still there was enough there for him to get picked in the top 300 last year.  He seems to fit the mold the Twins have been using for later round pitcher picks.  They appear to be ignoring stats and looking for certain physical traits as well as how well guys throw certain pitches.  Won't know how that turns out for a bit yet but I'm thinking Ober, Sammons and Windor as examples.   There are others that have already failed or look like they won't make it but with numbers odds of finding diamonds in the rough are better.  Windor was a small school guy with not great numbers who dominated A ball last year.  So maybe this is another gamble in that direction.  No guarantee it works out but at least we have a lottery ticket instead of nothing at all.  Here's hoping the Scouts and FO identified something in McMahon that makes them think he can make it.

oregontwin College Ball

oregontwin

Verified Member
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How so? Extremely small sample, but his walk rate in pro ball was perfectly fine, as it was in college last year too (notably lower than his conference's walk rate).

 

His HBP number in college seems high, but it was actually the same rate as his whole conference (which was almost 3 times the MLB rate).

Thought I saw 5 walks in 12+ innings

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