The holidays are great and all, but I am ready for more baseball. After profiling Matt Bottcher in last week’s Express Alumni Update presented by Lakeland University, we decided to see if any other UIC Flames were making noise. It didn’t take us long to find Express alum Mickey McDonald impressing in the minors.
McDonlad, a right fielder from San Mateo, California played for the Express in 2016 and was a part of the memorable team that helped the Express return to the playoffs. Others off of that team to be drafted into the minors include Caleb Boushley to the Padres, Daulton Varsho to the Diamondbacks, and fellow UIC Alum Cody Bohanek to the Astros. In all, eleven players from our roster in 2016 have been drafted.
McDonald came to the Express as an All-Horizon League First Team selection after completing his sophomore season in Chicago with a .305 batting average and 37 RBIs. McDonald led the Flames and placed fourth in the Horizon League with 14 stolen bases.
With the Express in 2016, McDonald helped the team secure a spot in the Northwoods League playoffs and earned an invite to the Major League Dreams Showcase in Madison where he went 2-for-3 on the night. McDonald rivaled the Express leaderboard in every category over the course of the season, putting up the third-most hits on the team behind Varsho and Zach Ashford, with 65, and the second-most doubles, with 10. McDonald ended the season with a .278 batting average and knocking in 21 RBIs.
After returning to the Flames in 2017 and gaining All-Horizon League Second Team honors, McDonald was drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 18th round. McDonald has risen steadily in the A’s organization since making his minor league debut with the AZL Athletics in the Arizona League. McDonlad had made stops with the Vermont Lake Monsters, played the entire 2018 season with the Beloit Snappers here in Wisconsin, and in 2019 played for the Stockton Ports and finished his season in AA with the Midland RockHounds.
In 2019 McDonald slashed .244/.308/.282 with 6 doubles and 11 RBIs with the RockHounds. While with Stockton McDonald was named Player of the Week and as recent as September was included among other Oakland prospects to join the organizations Fall Instructional League camp.
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The Eau Claire Express are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. The Northwoods League is the proven leader in the development of elite college baseball players. Having completed its’ 26th season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 22 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, over 230 Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner and World Series Champion Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and World Series Champion Chris Sale (BOS). As well as 2019 Rookie of the Year and Home Run Derby Champion Pete Alonso (NYM) and MLB All-Stars Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (MIA). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League website. All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.eauclaireexpress.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Express as your favorite team.