2025 There R Giants' Top 50: #10: Trevor McDonald

The newest big leaguer

Photo Credit: Mick Anders | Richmond Flying Squirrels

So far, in this year’s Top 50, we’ve seen:

• Just Missed List

• 46-50 (Camacho, Foster, Flores, Hernandez, Reckley)

• 41-45 (Christian, Pomares, Ahuna, Perez, Sugastey)

• 36-40 (Howell, Murphy, Miles, Simon, Choate)

• 31-35 (Sanchez, Waites, Bresnahan, Rengel, Maldonado)

• 26-30 (Hipwell, Bello, Tejada, Diaz, Bericoto)

• 21-25 (Ortíz, Furman, Cayama, Harris, Ceballos

• 16-20 (Cox, Martin, Meckler, Bostick, Velasquez)

• 11-15 (Arteaga, Crawford, Davidson, Seymour, Ragsdale)

One day last spring, shortly before the end of my annual sojourn to Papago Park, I found myself sitting next to Trevor McDonald, who had pitched in a game earlier that afternoon. I made myself free to start up a conversation with the pitcher, who I knew slightly from past talks (including an appearance on the podcast), complimenting him on how good he had looked. The polite young man from Mississippi thanked me for the compliment, and then went on to talk about what a great feeling it was to be completely healthy and throwing free and easy, finally free of the nagging little health issues that had dogged him so much of the previous year. I ended the conversation by saying I expected I’d see him in about a week at the Richmond media day.

And then I showed up in Richmond a week or so later, and there was no McDonald to be found. There wouldn’t be — anywhere — for nearly another six weeks. I would, by lucky coincidence, be on hand when he did make his season debut. But that debut came a long way from Virginia, right back on those same hot Papago Park fields in an ACL game, as he recovered from a groin strain that had struck him down in the final week of camp. So much for throwing free and easy.

McDonald’s journey the last few years has born some similarity to another player who made his debut last season, Landen Roupp. When on the field, both have posted consistently sterling performances at every level. But there has been a lot of when not on the field to go with all of that success. Despite delays and pauses, however, both have moved through the minor leagues with an alacrity that other pitchers with a lot more innings on their resumes haven’t managed — a testament to their ability to throw a lot of strikes with a lot of excellent pitches.

If I’m not mistaken, Trevor McDonald has enjoyed the status of being the most recent big leaguer in MLB history for many months now (the 23,370th player in major league history), thanks to his three-inning debut on the final day of the 2024 season. And, if he can stay away from those troubling little strains, bumps, and bruises, there should be a lot more where those three innings came from.