Billy McKinney: Former Mets Outfielder (2021)

William Landis McKinney was born August 23rd, 1994, in Dallas Texas. The left hand hitting, six-foot one outfielder also plays at first base.

McKinney was signed by the Oakland A's, out of Plano West Senior High School, in the first round of the 2013 draft, the 24th pick overall. 

After receiving a 1.8 million signing bonus, and spending one year in Athletics minor leagues, McKinney was traded along with Addison Russell & Dan Straily to the Chicago Cubs for Jason Hammel & Jeff Samardzija.

In the Cubs organization, he went up to the AA level before suffering a hair line fracture in his knee, shutting him down for 2016. Next, he was traded along with Gleyber Torres & Adam Warren to the AL New York team for Aroldis Chapman.

MLB Career: He made his big-league debut, on March 30th, 2018, getting a hit in his first MLB at bat. The next day he got injured & was placed on the DL.

 After two games with the AL New York team, he was traded along with (another 2021 future Met) Brandon Drury in exchange for J.A. Haap. 

He spent parts of three seasons with the Jays, hitting his first career HR on August 21st, 2018. That week he hit three HRs over a four-game span. In 84 games playing mostly outfield, he hit .252 with 6HRs & 13 RBIs.

The next year he saw action in career high 84 games, showing some power, hitting 12 HRs 14 doubles while driving in 28 runs. But he only batted .215.

After just two games of the 2020 Covid19 season, McKinney was placed on waivers & selected by the Milwaukee Brewers. 

He began 2021 with the Brew Crew, hitting 3 HRs with 6 RBIs while batting just .207 in 40 games.

Mets Career: On May 26th, he was traded to the New York Mets for minor leaguer, Pedro
Quintana. McKinney was added to fill a roster that had a dozen player including five outfielders in its injured list.

Quotes- Billy McKinney: " I feel I can play center, right or left. Whatever is needed for the team".

He debuted as a Met the next night, going 0-2 in a 1-0, Marcus Stroman seven inning win. McKinney would hit safely in his next four games, including HRs in back-to-back games, both Mets wins, vs Atlanta & Arizona.

On June 9th, he had the biggest night of his career, hitting two HRs & driving in five runs, in a 14-1 Mets walloping f the Orioles in Baltimore. 

In his next game he helped Jacob deGrom to a 3-2 win over the Padres at Citi Field, with as RBI double. He scored when deGrom singled in the Mets third run.  

By mid-June he was batting .275 since joining the Mets & was playing a fine outfield as well. He sat out a few games in mid-June, due to soreness in his knee. 

On June 28th, he hit his fifth Mets HR, coming in a loss to the Nationals.

As July rolled around, he was just seeing action as a pinch hitter, going 1-6 that month. When J.D. Davis made his return from the IL, Mckinney was designated for assignment. 

On July 22nd, he was traded to the L.A. Dodgers for Carlos Rincon.

Post Mets Career: He would play in 37 games down the stretch for the Dodgers batting .146 in a utility & defensive role. On August he hit a HR along with Max Muncy in a 2-1 win over the Pirates.

Post Season: McKinney got to play in the post season coming in as a defensive replacement in the Wild Card Game in the Dodgers win over the Cardinals. He appeared in three games of the NLDS getting one at bat (0-1) in the win over the San Francisco Giants.

In 2022 he signed a minor league deal with the Oakland A's. After 23 games he was batting just .096 & was designated for assignment.