SURPRISE, Ariz. – It was only mid-morning but already blistering hot out under the desert sun when Trosky National 2022 head coach Abe Ruiz decided to make a call to his bullpen.
Ruiz’s talented ballclub was trailing BPA 17u 3-2 after three innings in a first round playoff game at the Perfect Game 17u World Series at the Surprise Spring Training Complex (Rangers, Royals) on Friday, July 30, with a spot in the quarterfinal round awaiting the winner.
Ruiz had plenty of options available to him at this point, even while knowing circumstances dictated that he handle his pitching staff nimbly. There was in fact a very real possibility of playing three more games after this one in the next 24 hours.
In reality, it wasn’t that difficult of a decision after all. The call went out to top 2022 right-hander Mason McGwire, an Oklahoma commit ranked the No. 65 overall national prospect (No. 14 RHP) in his class. Yes, go with the kid out of Irvine, Calif., the one with the irrefutable baseball pedigree and bloodlines, the one whose abilities at crunch-time were unquestioned.
And what exactly did Mason McGwire do on this 100-degree day in the far northwest Phoenix suburbs? How about four innings of sparkling relief during which he shutout BPA 17u on two hits while striking out six without a single walk. His fastball sat regularly at 89 mph (topped out at 92) while he also showed an occasional curveball and slider.
“I was feeling pretty good; I was in control,” McGwire told PG once Trosky National’s 6-3 victory was in the books. “Not trying to throw too hard, just trying to pitch. I pretty much threw all fastballs, but it felt pretty good...
“I usually just try to bring my best no matter what; I don’t really care who’s on the other team. I want to win; I want to do what’s best for the team.”
What a wonderful approach from what appears to be a pretty wonderful 6-foot-3, 190-pound pitching prospect who also happens to be the youngest son of the former MLB All-Star slugger and World Series champion Mark McGwire.
Mason learned during his stay in the Valley that he had been invited to the PG All-American Classic, the premier prep all-star extravaganza scheduled to be played Aug. 22 at Petco Park in downtown San Diego, the home of the National League’s Padres.
His inclusion at the Classic is a big deal for McGwire on many fronts but mostly because it gives him yet another opportunity to show he belongs. And not just because of his last name but because of his undeniable talents on the mound.
“It’s a great honor to be [considered] among the top players in the [2022 class],” McGwire said. “I’m really looking forward to it, to be able to showcase my talent. It’s just a great honor.”
Mason McGwire becomes the second McGwire in as many years to be invited to the Classic. Another top young prospect who didn’t fall very far from the tree is Mason’s brother, Max McGwire. Max, just over a year older than Mason, is a 6-foot-2, 185-pound outfielder/first baseman and an Oklahoma Sooners signee who played at last year’s PGAAC in Oklahoma City.
Mark McGwire, when reached by phone at his home in Irvine on Wednesday, was thrilled that both of his sons will now have been given the opportunity to perform on high school baseball’s biggest and brightest all-star game stage.
“I can’t thank Perfect Game enough for [providing] this,” he said during a 25-minute telephone conversation. “It’s just such a well-oiled machine and it just keeps producing. Just showing everyone throughout the country how great these young kids are, starting at young ages...and then watching them grow all the way up to seniors in high school and then being drafted or going into college.”
Both Max and Mason were a little late to the party in terms of getting involved with travel ball and the PG showcase circuit, but they were learning the game elsewhere. They were hanging out with their dad in big league clubhouses, shagging balls during BP, taking ground balls and hitting in the cages, all the time surrounded by big-leaguers who Mark was helping coach after his playing career ended.
It was only about 2½ years ago that the brothers first got involved in travel ball and attending PG showcases but as their dad told them time and again, it’s always good to be a late-bloomer; you don’t want to bloom too soon. Now Mark feels like they’re blooming beautifully.
“The game of baseball you can’t chase; you have to be patient to play this game,” Mark said. “You have to put your work in and you have to do your time and you just have to wait your turn. When you get that turn that’s when you try to take full advantage of it – you just can’t rush to this game.”
Mason McGwire’s PG experiences aren’t extensive at all (8 total events) but he’s still managed to get his name out there. He was an all-tournament team selection at the 2020 PG WWBA World Championship (Jupiter) while playing with the Trosky National 2021 last October in Fort Myers, Fla.; he was a Top Prospect List performer at the 2019 Sunshine West Showcase held in Irvine.
Just a few weeks before attending the PG 17u World Series, McGwire was at the PG National Showcase at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla. – the home of the AL East’s Tampa Bay Rays – where things really began to hit home. The platforms, he couldn’t help but think, were getting bigger and bigger.
“It was fun and it was really nice to pitch on that big-league mound,” McGwire said. “I hadn’t done a lot of PG [showcases]...so it was good to be back out there and show how much I’ve improved, so it was great.”
Mason is also a member of a pretty unique baseball prospect fraternity that will be gathering at Petco Park for this year’s Classic. As the son former Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire, Mason will be a member of a select group of six top 2022 prospects who also have dads who enjoyed All Star careers while playing for many years in the major leagues.
The other five include his West Team teammates in outfielder Justin Crawford (son of Carl Crawford, a PG pioneer of sorts), Jackson Holliday (Matt Holliday) and Carsten Sabathia (CC Sabathia); the East Team showcases Cam Collier (Lou Collier) and Andruw Jones (Andruw Jones).
The Classic will not mark the first time McGwire has been around these other players, of course: all six were just at the PG National Showcase at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Fla., the third week in July. But for a few of them, McGwire included, the relationships go back quite a bit farther.
“When my dad was a coach for the Dodgers, Carl Crawford was there and me and Justin were good buddies back then; we used to hang out at the ballpark all the time,” Mason said. “And before that, my dad was coaching for the Cardinals and Matt Holliday was there, so I was hanging out with Jackson and Ethan [Holliday], his younger brother. That was a lot of fun – really good memories.”
To Mark McGwire, this reunion is just like one of the coolest things ever, and not for the kids but for the dads, as well.
“In St. Louis, I remember those days early before the big-leaguers got to the ballpark, we would be out in center field at Busch Stadium playing baseball with the boys. Jackson [Holliday] and his brother Ethan were out there playing and now they’re going to be playing in the big game in San Diego...
“It’s just really, really cool and I think it’s just really good for baseball in general to see all these young kids that are trying to follow their dad’s footsteps but making a name for themselves.”
Mark McGwire played in all or parts of 16 big-league seasons (1986-2001) with Oakland and St. Louis, was named the AL Rookie of the Year with the A’s in 1984 when he slugged a then-rookie record 49 home runs and his .618 slugging percentage led the league.
A 12-time All-Star (8 in AL, 4 in NL), Mark won a World Series championship with Oakland in 1989 and finished as the runner-up to the Cubs’ Sammy Sosa in the 1998 NL MVP balloting, the season McGwire hit 70 home runs and Sosa slugged 66; their home run battle captivated the nation that summer of ’98. Mark McGwire finished with 583 career home runs, which was fifth all-time when he retired in 2001 and now stands 11th on the all-time list.
After putting a wrap on his playing career, the elder McGwire eventually got into coaching, serving as the Cardinals hitting coach from 2010-12, the Dodgers hitting coach from 2013-14 and the Padres bench coach from 2016-18.
He left coaching behind at that time so he could watch his sons Max and Mason do their thing out on the field. He saw that his sons had the talent to excel and that it was really just a matter of them putting it all together and playing high-level games.
“It was more important for me to be with them and to see them take the steps to their ultimate goal...to be a big-league ballplayer someday and that will be an absolute joyous day,” Mark said. "...I can tell you that at their ages of 17 and 18, they’re far and above what I was at 17 and 18 years old so it’s going to be exciting for the next three or four years to see where they are.”
Mason McGwire entered this earth in January 2004, so he wasn’t around to physically witness any of his dad’s playing days. But he was around to benefit from all of Mark’s accomplishments as a coach and dad has certainly been able to pass a lot of his knowledge down to his son.
“He’s had a great impact,” Mason said. “He knows pretty much everything there is to know about the game of baseball and he’s helped me so much and given me advice. He was a pitcher in college (Southern California) and then he became a hitter, and he doesn’t remember much about pitching but all the pitching coaches he used to work with, he has me in contact with them. It’s great to have those contacts to see what people think about you and give you some advice.”
With Mason being a pitcher and Mark ranking among the most prolific power hitters in MLB history, the question can be asked as to how much knowledge Mark can pass on to his son as far as perfecting his craft on the mound. Turns out there’s a real simple answer.
Pitching and hitting are really similar, Mark explained, because everything is driven by the lower half. It’s a player's legs that dictate his strength and his speed and just about every other physical aspect of the game, so if your legs aren’t in a good position the body’s upper-half is going to work that much harder.
That can be especially troublesome for pitchers but Mark believes these teenagers have been put in very capable hands in terms of training, and they’re more knowledgeable about their bodies than ever before. Their development is also accelerated because their experiences are different from those of ballplayers a generation earlier.
“Today, these young kids get to see it at such young age [and] they’re already preparing themselves...because of the chances of them facing these pitchers today throwing 92 to 95 [mph] in high school,” he said. “They get the opportunity to see what they’re going to face at the college level, minor league level, big league level at such a young age...
“The thought of having the chance at such a young age to play against the best in the country is so great and Perfect Game has just been tremendous at starting this and it’s just going to get better and better and better.”
Mason has pretty much followed the same PG path as his older brother, playing for Abe Ruiz with Trosky National and receiving an invitation to the PG National Showcase and ultimately the PG All-American Classic. It’s just all happening a year later for the 17½-year-old Mason.
“We’re best friends; we’re really close,” he said of his relationship with Max. “I’ve always played up with him [during] travel ball, he’s going to Oklahoma next year and I’ll be there after him. It’s always been me and him, from playing wiffle ball to playing stick ball, it’s been a lot of fun; everything adds up...
“I was in Oklahoma [City] last year for the Classic and I got to see how it was for him. He’s told me a lot of good things about it and all the good experiences and it was a lot of fun for him.”
McGwire said the fact that his brother will have already spent a year in Norman before he arrives in the fall of 2022 played a part in his decision to commit to Oklahoma, but it was the Sooners’ coaching staff that really made the decision an easy one.
Head coach Skip Johnson has been in that position since June of 2017 and he is widely regarded as one of the best pitching coaches in the country; 15 Sooners pitchers have been selected in the MLB Amateur Draft in just the last four years.
“Skip Johnson is a really good pitching coach,” McGwire said. “My dad was a hitting coach and he can see things in hitters that some people can’t see and he says Skip is like that for pitching. He can pick out anything and help you fix it and that’s the best place I can go to develop more as a pitcher.”
After McGwire completed his second relief appearance at the PG 17u PG World Series back on that really warm morning of July 27, a PG scout wasted little time in filing his thoughts about the right-hander's performance.
McGuire made two appearances in relief at the event, totaling six innings of work; he didn’t allow a run on three hits and struck out 10 against no walks. The scouting report was glowing, calling his outings “absolutely dominant” with an “extremely impressive pitch mix that can rack up strikeouts and get hitters out on a consistent basis.”
That’s what McGwire will bring to the table at Petco Park with the PG All-American Classic, now just a little over two weeks away; expect the McGwire family from Irvine to be there in force. Both Mason and Mark reserve their highest praise for Stephanie McGwire, Mason’s mom and Mark’s wife. None of this would be possible without her, of course, which also brings things full circle. Mason McGwire could not ask for a more loyal fan club.
“I couldn’t be prouder for Mason,” Mark said. “He’s one of those pitchers that has absolute ice in his veins – you wouldn’t know if he’s throwing a no-hitter and you wouldn’t know if he’s getting hit really hard. He just has an even-keel about him and it’s something that I think is really going to benefit him in the long run.”