Doubted time and again, Washington's Mason McCoy adds MLB chapter to long baseball story

Editor's note: Ben Diggle is a former Journal Star sports reporter and baseball scout. He was an assistant with Illinois Central College when MLB utility player Mason McCoy played there nearly 10 years ago.

When my wife Melissa and I got married in July 2014, we put off honeymooning because — duh — that’s baseball season! We settled on a December honeymoon and as winter break approached, we wanted a housesitter for our senior dog, Gizmo.

We had previously asked a number of my baseball players from Illinois Central College to house-sit because we trusted them. But the one I trusted most was Mason McCoy, a NJCAA All-American shortstop from Washington. Mase graciously agreed to stay with Gizmo for the duration of our five-day trip.

When we finally returned on Christmas Eve 2014, the house glowed warmly and Christmas lights twinkled. We found our pup, Gizmo, sleeping soundly in his bed. The house didn’t look as though a teenager had lived there for five days. Rather, it was immaculate. He even folded his bedding. And on the TV stand was a sticky note. I still have a picture of the note, which read “I tried putting everything where it was. Hope you enjoyed your trip and thanks for letting me watch Giz! Have a Merry Christmas — Mason”

Little did I know I was acquiring another Major League Baseball player’s autograph to add to my collection.

Background: Washington High grad Mason McCoy called up to MLB with Toronto Blue Jays

McCoy, a 2013 Washington grad who went on to be a two-time NJCAA All-American at ICC and all-Big Ten Conference at Iowa, was called up by the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday morning and joined them in Toronto for Tuesday’s game against the Washington Nationals. He didn't see the field in his first game, but on Wednesday he pinch hit and made a great diving play at shortstop for the Blue Jays.

I’ve been part of a lot of different events in this young man’s life from baseball to his wedding. So let me share what Mason’s journey to the big leagues has been like.

The story of Mason McCoy's recruitment

After McCoy hit .444 as a freshman in 2010 at Washington, I arranged for the University of Louisville to come and see him during a fall game at Illinois State’s Duffy Bass Stadium. Louisville became the first of many schools to pass on McCoy; too little, too hard to project.

That happened several times on the recruiting trail.

One of my favorite stories about McCoy’s recruitment? My good friend, Jeff Opalewski, then the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Central Michigan and now at Long Beach State, called and said McCoy was big-leaguing him and not returning calls. Washington assistant Eric Joop and I both tore into him, but McCoy swore he hadn’t had any phone calls from CMU. Then we figured out what happened: McCoy was one number off on the keys when filling out the school's online recruiting questionnaire. Ope eventually made the trip to see McCoy play travel ball and he too eventually passed.

Bear in mind that while these teams are passing, they are doing so as Mason is putting up one of the statistically dominant offensive seasons in state history. He hit .564 with six home runs, 12 doubles, 10 triples and 50 RBIs for the Panthers.

Yet with bigger school’s passing, McCoy had junior college and NCAA Division III options. He opted to stay home at East Peoria-based ICC. One of the perks of junior college baseball is that you get to play up to 20 games in the fall. Early in McCoy’s freshman year at ICC, the team ventured up to Black Hawk College. McCoy struggled. ICC coach Bear Kelley said he "wasn’t very good and let two balls handcuff him and let it affect him." Kelly went on to tell McCoy that former ICC shortstop Justin Fletcher of Pekin was in DeKalb at Northern Illinois University.

That was Kelley stoking McCoy’s competitive fire — letting him know he wasn’t living up to the high standard set by Fletcher in his lone season.

How competitive was McCoy? I once watched him and ICC teammate Tyler Hilton repeatedly go home to third as if legging out a triple to see who could produce the fastest time. If memory serves, Hilton’s best was a 10.98 and McCoy’s best was a 10.99. Both of those numbers are insanely fast (by comparison, Cincinnati Reds sensation Elly De La Cruz has been clocked at 10.83 on a triple) but that was no consolation for McCoy.

He didn’t just set himself apart with his natural talents, either. He was a hard worker.

Nearly every summer weekend, ICC's Kelly works on Thome Field from early morning until late night while hosting tournaments. And in that summer of 2014, when we would show up for field work for 9 a.m. games, we’d see McCoy pulling his younger brother, Micah, up and down the soccer field on the back of a weight sled. McCoy was coming in earlier than his teammates because he had to work at Walgreens in Washington and Micah had to come along because he had to watch him until he went to work.

'Why is McCoy the best player in the league?'

The ICC coaching staff got used to people singing McCoy’s praises a lot. The first time we heard he was the best player at an event was at the Puma Classic, one of the premier junior college showcases in the country in the fall of 2014. College programs from across the country found their way to tiny Rensselaer, Ind. The day’s host Rick O’Dette, then head coach of host St. Joseph’s College, later told me that coaches couldn’t stop talking about McCoy’s play that day.

We heard it again the following summer. Former ICC assistant coach Brian Lewis took a head coaching job with the La Crosse (Wis.) Loggers of the Northwoods League. McCoy went there on a temporary contract. Within a week, Lew called and opened the conversation with this question: “Why is McCoy the best player in the league?” Lew proved prescient as McCoy went on to win Northwoods League Player of the Year in 2015 and set the record for hits in a single season, runs and career hits in a league filled with players from the SEC, PAC 12, Big 12, Big Ten, Missouri Valley, etc.

That first summer in La Crosse, he turned down six-figure offers from a handful of MLB teams — and we agreed he was right to do so. He would get at least that much in the 2016 draft.

McCoy had a good junior season at Iowa, but not great. Still, he was named to the Big Ten Conference all-tournament team and had a walk-off hit in the conference tourney. Still, when the 2016 draft rolled around, his name wasn’t called. McCoy went back to the Northwoods League with that same chip on his shoulder and again outperformed players with bigger names and bigger schools. This time, he added the all-star game Most Valuable Player to his mantle.

After earning second-team all-Big Ten honors as a senior, McCoy earned a sixth-round draft selection from the Baltimore Orioles in 2017. And despite doing what he’s always done — including earning all-star nods at the Single-A and Double-A levels and the Arizona Fall League — he barely cracked the Orioles top-30 prospects at any point in his four seasons in the organization. So McCoy sought a change of scenery and asked for a trade. The Orioles obliged by sending him to the Seattle Mariners last season. It proved to be the right call as McCoy put up a 20/20 season — 21 home runs and 22 stolen bases at Triple-A all while continuing to make highlight defensive plays look routine.

False starts on road to The Show

McCoy’s bet on himself seemed to pay off in late August of 2022 when Tacoma suddenly stopped batting practice and a dugout celebration ensued. He had been summoned to meet the Mariners in Detroit. He jumped on a plane and flew to the Motor City. The Mariners graciously flew his wife, Cassandra, and son, Mateo, in as well. He got a uniform and was told he’d be in action the following night. But when the following night rolled around, McCoy was on a plane back to Tacoma — Mariners shortstop JP Crawford was feeling better. A few weeks later, McCoy was pulled in the middle of a game and told he was going up again. He got back to the team hotel, packed his bags and as he headed out the door, the phone rang again. Stay put, he was told, you’re not going up.

Now, here we are again. Bo Bichette, the Blue Jays all-star shortstop, and third baseman Matt Chapman are both banged up with a strained quadricep and sprained finger, respectively. So McCoy got his shot. He was called up to the big leagues and joined the Blue Jays in Toronto before they head to Denver for a road series with the Rockies this weekend.

This baseball season has not been kind to Central Illinois. The White Sox and Cardinals have both underachieved. The Cubs have had some good stretches, but lack consistency. So if you’re looking for a reason to love baseball, turn your eyes northward this week and root for one of our own.

Go enjoy this Mase, you have earned this moment!

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Mason McCoy took long, hard road from Washington, Illinois, to MLB