Travis MacGregor

WTM’s PLAYER PROFILE

2016
R:  1-1-0, 3.13 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 31.2 IP, 2.8 BB/9, 5.4 K/9

MacGregor had a solid debut, making nine starts and showing good control.  Eight of the twelve runs he allowed came in two starts.

2017
R+:  1-4-0, 7.84 ERA, 1.96 WHIP, 41.1 IP, 4.4 BB/9, 7.0 K/9

MacGregor had a rough time at Bristol.  Opponents teed off on him for a 339/413/444 line.  The damage came mainly toward the end of the season; his monthly opponents’ OPS was:

June:  .516
July:  .668
August:  1.393

He also had some control issues, but they were mainly in August as well.  In July he walked eight in 23.1 IP.  In August he walked the same number in nine innings.

2018
R:  0-0-0, 2.57 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 7.0 IP, 1.3 BB/9, 7.7 K/9
A:  1-4-0, 3.25 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 63.2 IP, 3.0 BB/9, 10.5 K/9

Despite his 2017 struggles, the Pirates moved MacGregor up to West Virginia.  He was a very different pitcher, possibly due to the addition of a slider, and his velocity increased to the mid-90s.  His K rate increased by 50% and opponents batted only .237 against him.  The improvement was probably due more to the improved fastball than the slider, which still needs work.  MacGregor had a reverse platoon split, with left-handed hitters posting a .639 OPS and right-handed hitters .724.  He had some injury issues.  He missed over a month starting in mid-May due to a deltoid muscle injury, then missed the last couple months of the season with forearm soreness.  That, unfortunately, led to Tommy John surgery.

2019
INJURED

MacGregor missed the entire season.  If he has a typical recovery period, he’ll be ready to go at the start of 2020 or soon thereafter.