Jake
McCaw

First baseman Jake McCaw continues to be one of my favorite senior bats in the Midwest. He was a first-team All-MVC performer last season and the 6-foot-3, 210-pound left-handed hitter continues to sizzle this spring with a current slash .350/.424/.585, eight home runs and 33 RBI. McCaw does have some excess length to his swing and as a result he can get exposed at times with above average velocity on the inner part of the plate, but I believe he's another undervalued MVC bat

Another middle of the order bat for the Redbirds is first baseman Jake McCaw. A first-team All-MVC performer last spring, the 6-foot-3, 210-pound left-handed hitter sizzled this fall with a .500 batting average and max exit velocity of 109.4 mph. He's another undervalued MVC bat in the mold of Darin Ruf (Creighton-Phillies/Giants), Mike Tauchman (Bradley-Rockies/Yankees/Giants) and Luke Voit (Missouri State-Cardinals/Yankees).

Entering the summer season as the top power-hitting prospect in the Kernels Collegiate League, McCaw was similar to most sluggers who can do great damage to cookie fastballs and mistake sliders. With a chance to play everyday he set out to lessen his swing/miss and develop greater consistency in order to put together more frequent, high-quality passes. With a better understanding of his pitch to swing at vs. which pitcher’s pitch to lay off, he took that same approach back to campus this fall. The early results were impressive with power production (.360 batting average, 3 2B, 3 HR) and just a 19% K rate. With ever-improving raw power and the ability to square up the baseball, McCaw has the offensive abilities to potentially join a select group of Missouri Valley Conference sluggers who were overlooked and underdrafted, including Bryce Ball (Dallas Baptist), selected in the 24th round in 2019 by Atlanta, Sam Hilliard (Wichita State, 15th round in 2015 by Colorado), Luke Voit (Missouri State, 22nd round in 2013 by St Louis), Ryan Court (Illinois State, 23rd round in 2011 by Arizona) and Darin Ruf (Creighton, 20th round in 2009 by Philadelphia). McCaw also runs well for his size (6-foot-3, 215 pounds) and is an adequate defender at first base with average arm strength.