POWER UP
BT19
MAKING THE GRADE
AUGUST 2019
As the spring of 2010 unfolded, Tim McDonnell formed an opinion firmly outside the scouting mainstream.
McDonnell, the Marlins’ area scout for greater Los Angeles, believed Christian Yelich had the potential to hit 25-home run power.
Few others shared that opinion. The overall consensus was Yelich, a skinny first baseman with a sweet lefthanded swing from Westlake High, would primarily hit for average and might approach 15 home runs in his best years, a la Casey Kotchman or James Loney.
McDonnell felt otherwise.
“You go back to his junior year and we saw him against Tyler Skaggs (of Santa Monica High), myself and our national crosschecker at the time, and he homered to dead center off of Skaggs that day and we were both looking at
