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Photo by Darlene Wong Cancell. David MacKinnon, an Easton native who is now a Major League baseball player for the Oakland Athletics, spoke to young baseball players at the Dirt Dawgs training facility in Canton.
10-21-2022 11:26pm
MLB Oakland A's Player David MacKinnon Gives Advice to Youth Baseball Players at Canton Training Facility
Darlene Cancell
Editor
Oakland Athletics player David MacKinnon was at Dirt Dawgs in Canton, sharing some wisdom with young baseball players in training on Thursday evening, October 20, 2022. Mr. MacKinnon, once an instructor at Dirt Dawgs before becoming a professional baseball player, spoke about his decisions and experiences on the way to making it to the majors. His audience included youth from the local area, including Westwood, Milton, and Stoughton.
"My dream was always to play professional baseball, obviously at the big league level. I grew up in Easton. I remember playing in the backyard with my dad. . . . IÂ remember [ ] growing up, it would be a little T-ball, we would be throwing it in the backyard. I'd be whacking it. It was fun. That was my fun - playing kickball with the kids outside. [Now] [e]veryone's playing Fortnite. . . . it's video games now. When I was younger, we would go outside and actually play with our friends. It was a little different back then."
Photo by Darlene Wong Cancell. Oakland A's player David MacKinnon signs his autograph on a baseball glove for a young fan.Mr. MacKinnon believes in the value of playing multiple sports. It trains your body to be more athletic, he observed. As a freshman at North Easton's Oliver Ames High School, he played varsity baseball, varsity soccer and junior varsity basketball. Mr. MacKinnon credits basketball for making him faster. He credits soccer for increasing his agility. He was "really good at soccer" earning All-American in the sport and "pretty good at baseball." In baseball, he earned distinction as All-Eastern Massachusetts in his senior year.
Although soccer may have appeared to be his better sport in high school, baseball was his dream. Mr. MacKinnon notes that it was the smaller, Division I schools that were interested in him, not the "big schools," however. Still, it was an opportunity to show what he could do. He played collegiate baseball at the University of Hartford.
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While in college, he had hoped to get drafted in his junior year. When he didn't, he was devastated. But missing the draft had its definite benefits.
"I think things happen for a reason. If I was to get drafted, I probably wouldn't have met my wife that summer, playing baseball down the Cape. That was one lesson that IÂ learned, though. Sometimes what I want isn't what's right for me at that time. I think God's got a plan. You can't worry about it. Life's going to happen and you just can't worry about it."
Photo by Darlene Wong Cancell. A group of Dirt Dawgs youth baseball players participated in training exercises when MLB player David MacKinnon was in the house.He did well in his senior year at Hartford, and was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels. There was "no baseball" in 2019 and 2020 due to COVID-19, he remembers. He used the time to think things over.
"Baseball is a game of adjustments," he noted. At age 24, he decided to change his whole swing. He had noticed that his own swing didn't look like the swing used by the top hitters like Los Angeles Angels player Mike Trout. He worked on making his swing look more like theirs. His time to think had helped him realize that in order to reach the highest level of play - the majors - he would have to change his swing. Without the change, he didn't think he could get there.
When 2021 came, Mr. MacKinnon was able to demonstrate his new swing and how well he could hit in AA (Double-A). In 2022, he started in AAA (Triple-A). His performance in AAA in May and half of June resulted in the Angels calling him up to make his major league debut. In August of this year, Mr. MacKinnon joined the roster for the Oakland Athletics.
Photo by Darlene Wong Cancell. Oakland A's player David MacKinnon shares his baseball experiences with players in training."The things I learned over my baseball career pretty much [is] talent's only going to take you so far. For me, my talent is hand-eye coordination. . . . I'm going to be able to recognize what pitch is over the plate, what pitch isn't over the plate, and be able to put them out there. " He noted the talent took him to a high level, but he had started to struggle at the higher level.Â
"Talent will only take you so far, then I realized I needed to make a switch," he said, recalling his decision to change his swing relatively late in his overall training. Talent will allow you to "not work as hard," said Mr. MacKinnon. But at some point in order to improve, you need to make adjustments, he advised the young players.
Thanks to David MacKinnon and Dirt Dawgs for sharing information for this article with Westwood Minute.
Photo by Darlene Wong Cancell. Along with a visit from MLB Oakland A's player David MacKinnon, members of the Dirt Dawgs training facility enjoyed an auction of items used and signed by the MLB player: gold and white Nike shoes, baseball bats, gloves, and hats.
