Kevin McGonigle Keeps Grinding

Sitting in the dugout several hours before a game, Kevin McGonigle had just wrapped up pregame drills and was getting a few moments to catch his breath.

He’s been here before, but the task of returning to the Midwest League hasn’t been seamless.

Following his promotion to High-A West Michigan in July 2024, the 20-year-old was held to just 14 games before a season-ending surgery to address a broken hamate bone in his hand. Fast-forward to 2025 and following a pair of doubles in the season opener, McGonigle was once again sidelined, this time with an ankle sprain.

Now in the process of navigating his longest healthy stretch with the Whitecaps to date, McGonigle has successfully established himself offensively across the league and by doing so, causing opposing teams to begin to revise their strategy.

“They’re pitching different to me this year,” McGonigle said. “I would say location, compared to last year. I feel like last year in Florida State League, I was just getting fastballs in the heart of the plate, and now I’m starting to get off-speed and fastballs, you know, away on the black dotted or in on the black dotted. I’ve just been trying to be ready for a good pitch location and being able to do damage on it.

“I would say when I got up here last year, I noticed I was getting a lot more off-speed pitches and, “Hitters counts,” McGonigle said. “So, this off-season, I was really focused on that 0-0 slider just to get me over the slider, get me over curveball, you know, just taking a hack at it, and not letting that go by for a strike. That was probably my main thing this off season was just being prepared to hit the off-speed stuff or, “hitters counts,” again. You know?”

Standing at 5’10, 187 pounds, McGonigle’s frame generates power from his core and his targeted work with off-speed preparation has allowed him to not only polish his timing, but the increase in power is also coming right along with it. Over 74 combined games in 2024, McGonigle carried a league-average .143 ISO offensively. In 2025 between Lakeland and West Michigan, McGonigle’s ISO has ballooned to .263 on the year.

With 17 doubles on the year, McGonigle has also surpassed his career-high of 16 set last season and he’s done it this year in almost a third of the time.

“I’ve stayed true to what I’ve done before, definitely,” McGonigle said. “I’m noticing I’m getting pitched a lot differently, and pitchers are throwing great pitches, you know, dotting away, dotting in, and I just had to get back to where I was again. Like, just being focused on bat-to-ball and trying to hit their mistakes, and if I don’t get a mistake, just do my best with the pitch they dot either away or in and let my hands and the barrel do the work.”

As for the toe tap at the plate? Well, it’s been around for a while, but even that aspect of McGonigle’s offensive mechanics is seeing evolvement since last season.

“I mean, I don’t really think about it too much,” McGonigle said. “I’ve just been doing it since I was like 10 years old, to be honest with you. My dad got me toe tapping and I have just kept it the same since then. I feel like the main thing (for me) is timing. I feel like once I toe-tap, I have better timing, because when I do, I kind of leg lift after too, which I actually just noticed. I didn’t really notice that last year.”

Not one to track fan expectation or rankings, McGonigle has never gone the route of over-complicating his approach to his development. He’s there to play and to play to his highest potential, but for the 20-year-old, it’s more about an internal drive to meet what he believes he’s capable of.

“He’s just here to play,” an American League scout said. “That’s it. He’s not interested in the noise; he just wants to get on the field and play. Nothing more. He trusts himself. That’s huge at that age. These types are just a different breed and they’re the ones we’re going to see in The Show sooner, rather than later.”

After a focus on timing, bat speed and power development during the 2023 offseason, McGonigle’s focus transitioned to a new phase of bat speed development before beginning the 2025 regular season and the numbers so far this season are speaking loudly enough on their own.

Over 26 combined games, McGonigle is slashing .384/.479/.646 with 20 extra-base hits, 22 RBI and a 1.125 OPS.

“This off-season was focused on bat speed, but more gap-to-gap instead of the first off-season, which was more about ball flight,” McGonigle said. “I feel like my power is in a good spot right now. I mean, I never go out there thinking, “Homer,” but I think, “Line drive.” And I like to say, “My missed hits are the home runs.”