Lakewood Ranch's Grant McCray having a Giant season in San Jose

In 2020, in his first offseason after being selected by the San Francisco Giants organization, Grant McCray did not have a productive winter.

Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic had something to do with it. But McCray, the Herald-Tribune's 2019 Baseball Player of the Year, wasn't familiar with this options for improving his game in the offseason.

“I didn’t have a big idea on where I wanted to train or where I wanted to hit,” he said. “So I didn’t have all the tools I needed.”

That's changed ... and he's been much more productive the past two winters while staying close to home.

He's had sessions with Jason Riley, a Sarasota-based strength and conditioning trainer at Positive Sports Lab and has hit at Sarasota’s Diamond Baseball Academy, operated by Jack Voigt, a seven-year Major League Baseball veteran and a former Venice High standout. .

“In the past two years, I feel like I really have gained those tools to use to get better,” McCray said. “Now I feel way stronger and my body feels way better than it has in the past.”

Three inches taller and 30 pounds heavier since his days at Lakewood Ranch High, the third round selection (87th overall) in the 2019 Major League Baseball Draft is now 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds.

And now, McCray, 21, is showing what he can do for the Class A San Jose Giants in the California League.

In 66 games so far this season, the left-handed hitting outfielder has a .284 average with 17 doubles, 8 triples, 10 home runs, 34 runs batted in, 55 runs scored and 21 stolen bases.

The extra weight has not taken away from the already-speedy McCray.

“I’m way faster now,” he said. “The ball travels way farther when I square it up. I have way more power than I used to have.”

He ranks first on the team in runs, triples and walks, second in doubles, home runs and stolen bases, third in hits, RBI and on-base-plus-slugging percentage (.885) and fourth in average.

In spring training and during the season McCray has received tutelage from Giants minor league field coordinator Tony Diggs, outfield and base running instructor Tim Leiper, Double A hitting coach Dan Santin and San Jose hitting coaches Travis Ishikawa and Dustin Lynn.

“They’re all different and help in different areas,” McCray said. “They have been my go-to mentors.”

If there is one area McCray wants to improve it is missing on pitches that he feels he should be hitting. “I’m fouling my pitches off that I should be driving in the gaps or doing some sort of damage to.”

Adjusting to life as a professional baseball player, however, has not been difficult for McCray since he grew up around the game. His father Rodney played nine seasons in the minor leagues and got into 15 games with the Chicago White Sox and New York Mets during a nine-year professional playing career.

“I knew a lot going into it because of my childhood in being around it,” Grant said. “A lot of it is really cultural, understanding and getting to know my teammates from different countries and areas of the world.”

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For the first half of the season with San Jose, McCray was part of an outfield that was manned by another player from the area.

Vaun Brown, a graduate of Sarasota High, was drafted by the Giants in the 10th round of the 2021 Draft out of Florida Southern College.

Brown, who manned left field, also has put up some impressive numbers: a.346 batting average with 14 doubles, 5 triples, 14 home runs, 41 runs batted in, 50 runs scored and 23 stolen bases in 26 attempts. Brown has since been called up to High-A at Eugene, Oregon.

“It’s been really good. We’re basically the same kind of player,” said McCray, who plays center field. “We’re going to play hard and do the right thing on the field. Being from the same town it’s really kind of a cool thing, because nobody really expected either of us to be doing what we are doing. We’re making the best out of it.”

McCray did not know the 24-year-old Brown until he joined the Giants’ organization but he did know Brown’s younger sister, Kelly, a former basketball player at Sarasota High.

“He was a senior when I was a freshman,” McCray said of Vaun. “I knew her (Kelly) more than I knew Vaun. It was a pretty quick friendship built between him and I.”

The 941 connection has helped both players.

“We’re pretty good friends,” McCray said. “We’re from the same town and we want to see each other succeed and be the hometown heroes. It’s just like him pushing me and keeping up and I kind of felt like I did the same thing as well.”

Now, McCray hopes to join Brown climbing the Giants' organizational ladder.

“Yeah, I’m definitely happy where I’m at this year compared to last year,” said McCray, who had a Grade 2 UCL sprain in his throwing elbow at the beginning of the 2021 season. “Last year I started off hurt so I didn’t get a chance to show everyone what I can and can’t do on the field until the end of the season.

"This year where I’m at is a good spot for me.”

Dennis Maffezzoli is the deputy sports editor for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and chief reporter for Sarasota Herald-Tribune and HTpreps covering Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties. Support local journalism by subscribing. 

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Lakewood Ranch's Grant McCray having a Giant season in San Jose