Darnell McDonald made the Reds’ opening day roster in 2009 when Willy Taveras was not available, and stayed with the team for the first few weeks of the season.  As the backup center fielder, McDonald played little and was atrocious when he did.  He went down to triple-A and had a good season with Louisville, then got called back up to the big club when Taveras and Chris Dickerson had both gone down with injuries.  He improved his stats, but still does not project as a big leaguer.

McDonald, shown here in 1999 in an Orioles uniform, is well-travelled.  The Orioles picked him in the first round of the 1997 draft, but the Colorado native never met expectations.  He showed good speed, but usually batted about .260 with little power.  The Orioles brought him up for a look in 2004, but were not impressed.  He began the annual minor league free agent tour.

McDonald got 10 at-bats with the Twins, then his greatest big league exposure this year.  He played in 47 games, with 28 hits in 105 at bats for a .267 average with 2 HR.  It made for a 706 OPS and 82 OPS+.  That he struck out 31 times and walked just 5 does not speak well of his approach.

McDonald is good defensively in all three outfield spots, and still runs well at age 30, so he has uses.  Those uses are limited to being a fifth outfielder.  That he got playing time in September that should have gone to Wladimir Balentien is one of the great indictments of Dusty Baker as a manager.

McDonald is a guy who never really developed.  Unfortunately, athletic guys like him are a Baker weakness, and the Reds should get rid of him ASAP to avoid the inevitable overplaying of this athlete.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 1:08 pm and is filed under 2009 review. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.