Am I really going to spill digital ink about John McDonald? Is it really worth spending time reviewing the season of a guy who was more coach than player? I guess we’re about to find out.
Why is John McDonald?
The best I can tell, McDonald existed on the Angels roster because of their desire to improve team chemistry. McDonald has purportedly lasted in this league as long as he had because of his terrific glove. His glove is good, but there are a lot of players out there with terrific gloves who and probably a better bat than McDonald who barely see any time in the Show. No, Johnny Mac got to stick around so long because he’s a good dude in the clubhouse. If the Angels wanted a good glove, they would’ve kept Andrew Romine, who is a better defender at this point and also provided more value as a baserunner, and saved a few hundred thousand bucks in the process.
Is McDonald’s presence really worth using up a roster spot for an entire season?
According to WAR, no. He was a -0.1 fWAR and -0.3 rWAR. What’s amazing is that Scioscia even tried to use him as minimally and optimally as possible. Think about it. McDonald was on the roster all year and got 91 plate appearances in 95 games. That’s because he was predominantly used as a late inning defensive replacement for David Freese. Even then, he only had 113 total chances and only 72 Balls In Zone in that time. So, despite his defensive reputation, he didn’t really get all that much defensive work, though at least a skewed amount of it was in late and close situations.
Was he actually a good defender though?
He didn’t play enough at second to matter. He was a negative across all the metrics in his very limited time at shortstop (82 innings). At third, he actually graded out quite well, so he was pretty good there. The issue though is that Freese wasn’t all that bad. Freese generally has a below average defensive reputation, but with a healed back, his play was on the verge of jumping over to the other side of average.
Still, a run prevention upgrade is a run prevention upgrade. Granted, it came at a non-premium defensive position, but these little things add up over the course of the season. They probably don’t add up to very much, maybe two or three runs over the course of the season.
Would he have been better off as a coach?
A coach? No, I’m sure he’ll have no problem finding work as a coach, but there are things a person can do as a played to affect team chemistry that a coach can’t. Besides, teams can only have so many coaches on the staff. Now, a mascot. Now you’re talking A mascot can cross all boundaries. They should’ve saved the roster spot, thrown McDonald in a Rally Monkey suit and had him work his magic that way.
Final Answer
With the chemistry now considered good, Johnny Mac is free to move on to spread his wisdom in another town. In that way, he’s not unlike Caine in Kung Fu, only a dumpy middle-aged white guy, not a dumpy middle-aged white guy pretending to be Asian.
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