The Brooklyn Aces' 23-year old staff ace, Aaron McNally, became the first pitcher to 20 wins this season, and with well over a month left on the regular season schedule.
McNally is having a break-out campaign and looks to be emerging as one of the heirs apparent to first generation aces Cheol-han Lee and Jake Harris. McNally struggled last year with his control, walking a league leading 134 batters but seems to have harnessed his pitches much better this year and is certainly the main contender for the Pitcher of the Year award as things stand currently. He possesses a fantastic fastball and a devastating forkball and if his cutter develops a bit more as is projected, these three pitches combined with his above average change-up make him a formidable force. He also profiles as durable and with good make-up. The future should be very bright indeed for the young righty.
Aaron McNally was chosen by the Aces with the second pick overall in the 1969 amateur draft. German knuckleballer Lienhart Brown was chosen just ahead of him at 1-1 by the Charlotte Sting and while Brown looked to be the more dynamic talent he has proven to be injury prone and there are concerns that he will never live up to his potential. Brooklyn was probably lucky to not have the first pick and feel the pressure to take the highly regarded Brown, as in McNally it appears they got the better deal. He is a huge factor in Brooklyn's maintaining a close enough distance to the Brewers to hope to close the gap before the end of the season.