Billy McKinney (baseball)


William Landis McKinney is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball. McKinney was a first-round draft pick of the Oakland Athletics in 2013. He was traded to the Chicago Cubs in 2014, and the New York Yankees in 2016. He made his MLB debut with the Yankees in 2018, and was traded to the Blue Jays during the season.

Career

McKinney attended Plano West Senior High School in Plano, Texas. He led the school's baseball team to the state's Class 5A semifinals. He committed to play college baseball at Texas Christian University.

Oakland Athletics

The Oakland Athletics selected McKinney in the first round, with the 24th overall selection, of the 2013 Major League Baseball draft. He signed with the Athletics, receiving a $1.8 million signing bonus.
McKinney began the 2014 season with the Stockton Ports of the Class A-Advanced California League. He batted.241 for the Ports.

Chicago Cubs

On July 4, 2014, the Athletics traded McKinney to the Chicago Cubs with Addison Russell and Dan Straily, in exchange for Jeff Samardzija and Jason Hammel. He was assigned to the Daytona Cubs of the Class A-Advanced Florida State League. He batted.301 in 51 games for Daytona.
McKinney began the 2015 season with the Myrtle Beach Pelicans of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League. After he batted.340 in 29 games, the Cubs promoted him to the Tennessee Smokies of the Double-A Southern League in May. He suffered a hairline fracture in his right knee in August, ending his season. McKinney returned to Tennessee in 2016.

New York Yankees

On July 25, 2016, the Cubs traded McKinney, Adam Warren, Gleyber Torres, and Rashad Crawford to the New York Yankees for Aroldis Chapman, and McKinney joined the Trenton Thunder of the Double-A Eastern League. McKinney ended the 2016 season with a.246 batting average, four home runs, and 44 RBIs. McKinney began the 2017 season with Trenton, and was promoted to the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders of the Triple-A International League in late June. He finished the 2017 season with a combined.277 batting average with 16 home runs and 64 RBIs between both clubs. The Yankees added him to their 40-man roster after the season.
The Yankees optioned McKinney to the RailRiders at the end of spring training in 2018. An injury to Aaron Hicks led the Yankees to promote McKinney to the major leagues on March 30. He made his major league debut that day, and recorded his first hit in his first at bat. The next day, McKinney sprained the AC joint in his left shoulder, and went on the disabled list. On May 25, McKinney was activated from the disabled list and optioned to the minors.

Toronto Blue Jays

On July 26, 2018, the Yankees traded McKinney and Brandon Drury to the Toronto Blue Jays for J. A. Happ. The Blue Jays assigned McKinney to the Buffalo Bisons of the International League and promoted him to the major leagues August 17. On August 21, McKinney hit his first major league home run off Baltimore Orioles pitcher Ryan Meisinger. McKinney appeared in 36 games for the Blue Jays in 2018, hitting.252 with 6 home runs and 13 RBIs. In 2019, McKinney hit 12 home runs with 28 RBI in 84 games.