Dom Amore: A disappearing breed, David MacKinnon repping UHart in the major leagues with Angels

David MacKinnon found the big gap on the right side of the Royals’ infield, the space he needed to collect his first major-league hit off the Royals’ Amir Garrett.

“Two strikes, he’s probably going to go slider, he throws it a lot,” MacKinnon said Friday from the parking lot of Angels Stadium in Anaheim, Calif. “And if he throws a fastball, just try to shoot it to right. And it just all happened. There’s no real words to describe everything you feel at first base. It’s just been an unbelievable week, honestly.”

Stories like MacKinnon’s add luster to baseball, the kid from a small college, picked late in the draft, not considered a “prospect,” who keeps working it until, at age 27, he gets his chance. But on several levels, MacKinnon is one of a disappearing breed.

MacKinnon, called up to the Angels June 18, played his college ball at the University of Hartford, joining Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell, Earl Snyder and Sean Newcomb as ex-Hawks to play in the big leagues. Drafted in the 32nd round in 2017, MacKinnon would have been undrafted a few years later, when the draft was cut to 20 rounds. And since the minor-league restructuring in 2020, wiping out 40-plus teams in the lower levels, prospects not labeled “can’t miss” don’t figure to get the same opportunities and time to develop.

“They’re still signing a lot of dudes after the draft,” MacKinnon said. “If you have a good college career, you’re still going to get the chance. They’ll find people, like all organizations do.”

MacKinnon, who played both soccer and baseball at UHart, is not so sanguine when it comes to his alma mater, which took another step this week in its move from Division I to Division III, joining the Commonwealth Coast Conference.

“I think they’re ruining the school, personally,” MacKinnon said. “If it wasn’t for Division I sports, I’m not going there. They’re taking away Division I sports and those are some of the smartest kids in the whole school. The alumni are disappointed, I’m disappointed, I don’t like what’s going on there and after this year, I don’t know if I’ll be going back to Hartford if things don’t change.”

MacKinnon, who plays first base and bats right-handed, hit .359 in 98 college games. He spent six years in the minors, minus the cancelled 2020 season, but was labeled as not having enough power. Then he made a study of Angel superstar Mike Trout’s swing.

“If you’re smart, you go look at Mike Trout, Vlad Guerrero Jr., all those guys who are gifted,” MacKinnon said. “You try to emulate what they do. Once I figured out how I wanted to change my swing, I did things that Mike Trout did really well, he used the ground really well, put power into his swing, and he consistently put himself in good position when his front foot hit the ground, a good launch position.”

MacKinnon has always had a good eye, and this season at Triple A Salt Lake City, he was hitting .327 with 13 homers and 41 RBI in 56 games, with 34 walks, a .433 on-base percentage and 1.056 on-base-plus-slugging mark when he got the call. When he arrived in the Angels’ clubhouse Wednesday for his fourth game, he saw his name in the cleanup spot. “That was surreal,” he said.

He drove in two runs with his single and a sacrifice fly in the Angels’ 5-0 victory, a game in which Shohei Ohtani struck out 13. MacKinnon, UHart Hawk, 32nd-round draft pick, beat all the odds and got to stand on first base, beaming, as teammates retrieved the ball for him.

“After the at-bat, I was pinch run for,” MacKinnon said. “Trout called me over to sit next to him and he said, ‘Hey, check this out.’ He showed me the hit and he said, ‘How sick is that? You just got your first hit in MLB.’ That was one coolest things ever, like the greatest player of all time calls me over and was celebrating the hit, too.”

And away he goes?

Rory McIlroy, who quadruple bogeyed a hole at the Travelers Championship, wasn’t the only top-shelf pro to have a bizarre experience Friday. Jason Kokrak hit a walk-off shot on No. 9, his final hole. His approach shot sailed over the green and scattered spectators.

Kokrak, 33rd in the world, shot a 67 in the first round, but was 4-over after a double bogey on No. 8. With no chance to make the cut, Kokrak briefly searched for his ball, then said ‘the heck with it’ and walked off. His didn’t want to hold up the group playing behind him, one of his playing partners said. Officially, he’s a DQ.

There was immediate speculation it could have been Kokrak’s last swing on The PGA Tour, since Golf Saudi has been one of his sponsors and he has acknowledged he has talked to them about joining LIV Golf.

Storrs development

UConn men’s basketball coach Dan Hurley likes to talk player development, and he can add a couple of pages to his brochure. Tyrese Martin rose quickly to get drafted in the second round and landing with the Hawks, Isaiah Whaley was signed to an Exhibit 10 deal with the Hornets and R.J. Cole will be in the summer league with the Lakers. Not exactly lottery picks like James Bouknight a year ago, but were any of these three considered NBA-level talent when they got to UConn?

Kemba’s on the move

The Knicks dispatched UConn legend Kemba Walker to Detroit on draft day, ending Walker’s dream-turned-nightmare in his hometown. At the start of June, Danny Ainge said the key move for the Celtics in reaching the NBA Finals was moving Walker, and the Knicks, for whom he played 37 games, would likely agree.

Walker, 32, hasn’t done anything wrong, he has just aged before his time due to chronic knee problems, getting to Boston and then New York at the wrong points of his career. Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau didn’t do anything wrong, either, he just pointed out, in his subtle/not-so-subtle way, that Walker couldn’t defend any more. Perhaps Walker can find the niche for his remaining skills with the Pistons.

Two cents on baseball

Don’t like the shift, but I have much more antipathy for the idea of legislating it out of existence. Managers should be allowed to align their fielders (or, for that matter, change pitchers) anyway they choose. The way to get rid of the shift is to call more strikes, make the plate wider if need be, to coax hitters into using the whole field, hitting the ball where it’s pitched. This is what it will take to get more action into the game.

The shift, by the way, is not something invented in the last 10 years. It was deployed most famously against Ted Williams in the 1940s. Search for the video of Mickey Mantle’s 500th home run in 1967 and you’ll see Baltimore employed it, although without having the second baseman in short right field. But it was the exception then; now it’s the norm.

Summer reading list

Here are a couple of sports books worth an investment.

Howard Bryant’s Rickey: The Life and Legend of An American Original is out, telling the story of stolen base king Rickey Henderson, a character who’s story has been screaming to be told for years. Bryant, with his considerable talent for getting well below the surface, is the perfect writer to tell it.

Also out in July is Seventeen-and-Oh: Miami, 1972 and the NFL’s Only Perfect Season, by Marshall Jon Fisher. As the incomparable 1972 Dolphins approach the 50th anniversary, this is ideal to get in the mood for training camp, just around the corner.

Dom Amore can be reached at damore@courant.com