McKay (shoulder) impresses in first spring outing

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- After having his schedule pushed back a few weeks due to left shoulder soreness, Brendan McKay said he was “kind of going crazy” about not being able to pitch in a Spring Training game. But McKay finally made his first Grapefruit League outing Friday, tossing a scoreless inning in the Rays’ 5-3 loss to the Twins at CenturyLink Sports Complex.

“He was really good,” said Rays manager Kevin Cash. “Really impressed with the velocity and just the way it came out of his hand. He looked really crisp."

Not only did McKay look sharp in his debut, but he also did it against the middle of the Twins’ order. McKay faced Jorge Polanco, Josh Donaldson, Mitch Garver and Marwin Gonzalez in the fourth inning. He induced weak contact throughout the inning while also striking out Donaldson looking on a 94 mph fastball.

“I felt good,” McKay said. “Hopefully we’re past [the shoulder issue] now and move on and start preparing for the season.”

Facing that level of competition gave McKay an added dose of adrenaline, even during a Spring Training game.

“It’s still a Spring Training game, but you want to pitch well,” McKay said. “You don’t want to go out there and give up six hits and not make it through an inning. Overall, I’ll take what I got.”

McKay threw 16 pitches, 10 for strikes Friday, including a handful of changeups, which is a pitch the left-hander is trying to establish more this season. McKay was successful with the pitch throughout the Minors, but threw it just 3.6 percent of the time in his 13 big league appearances.

Though he thought the changeup could’ve had more depth and movement Friday, McKay said he wants to be more conscious of adding the pitch to his mix, and he displayed that against the Twins, throwing a changeup to Polanco on the first pitch of his outing.

“Me being critical of myself, they weren’t as great as the one’s I’ve thrown before but that could’ve been the adrenaline,” McKay said. “You’re trying to throw your best pitch and it doesn’t really turn out the way you want it and you’re taking away from the pitch itself rather than just letting it settle in and take over from there.”

The next step for McKay will be to continue getting built up as a starter. He will likely go two innings in five or six days, depending on the schedule, and will tack on an inning after each start.

As of right now, there’s still no set plan on where McKay will start the season, but there’s a window for McKay to make the Opening Day roster, especially with Blake Snell’s availability slightly in question. But regardless, McKay will make an impact at the big league level at some point this season. It’s only a matter of when.

“He’s going to be involved,” Cash said. “In some way or form, he’ll be involved. We have to get him built up before we make those decisions."