From Purple Eagles to pro ranks? MacKinnon ready for the challenge

Team Ontario alum Alex MacKinnon (Aurora, Ont.) pitched five seasons for the Niagara University Purple Eagles and evolved into one of the best closers and leaders in the program’s history. Photo: Erik Grosman

July 11, 2021

By J.P. Antonacci

Canadian Baseball Network

For five seasons, Niagara University Purple Eagles coach Rob McCoy gave the ball to Alex MacKinnon (Aurora, Ont.) with the game on the line.

So with the 2021 campaign down to its final out, McCoy again called on the Canadian reliever with ice in his veins.

It wasn’t a save situation, and for a change MacKinnon wasn’t jogging in with runners on and victory hanging in the balance. In fact, Niagara was about to be swept in a playoff doubleheader.

But the score didn’t matter. McCoy wanted his veteran team leader to end his collegiate career on the hill.

“He earned it,” McCoy said. “The journey wasn’t always smooth for him. He was a guy who had to work for everything he got.”

A proper Division I sendoff for his most reliable reliever only seemed fitting.

“The season didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but I had an opportunity to get him into a game one last time and have that be a positive thing for him, and show the younger guys on the team what they’re working for,” McCoy said.

“It was just a tip of the cap to him for what he’s meant to the team.”

Trailing 8-4 in the second game of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference quarter-finals, MacKinnon stepped on the mound at Rider University with two outs in the bottom of the eighth. He promptly got his lone batter to fly out.

Niagara added a run in the top of the ninth but couldn’t complete the comeback, and the Purple Eagles were eliminated from the MAAC Tournament.

“It was a tough way to end it. It was kind of a sad feeling, but I mean, it was so much fun. I couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity,” MacKinnon said.

“From day one, I got the opportunity to play a substantial amount, and I’m super grateful for that.”

Five years of learning and growth came down to one final out, one last walk off the mound.

And then, suddenly, MacKinnon was no longer a college pitcher.

“It’s definitely a scary thing. It’s a weird feeling, because all I’ve known for the last five years is college baseball at Niagara University,” he said.

“Now I’ve got to officially grow up and go on to the next challenge.”

First impressions

Fortunately for MacKinnon, he is no stranger to challenges.

Called upon to protect a lead in his first game with Niagara in 2017, MacKinnon entered with one out and two runners on in the seventh. He calmly got two outs, then six more, picking up the win and making an unbeatable first impression.

The rookie’s reputation as an unflappable stopper was solidified when later that season he was thrown into the fire against 12th-ranked Virginia, coming in to protect the lead with runners on second and third.

He again got two outs to quell the threat and added two more clean frames for the win.

Plenty of tough assignments followed, with his coach trusting the freshman fireman in tight spots.

“He has the ability to have that adrenaline running through his veins, have that situation pulsing through his body, yet still make good pitches,” McCoy said.

“There’s not a lot of kids that can do that. If I had five of him, we would win everything every year.”

MacKinnon says he lives for those pressure-packed moments.

“I like to get myself fired up in the pregame, because I figure when that game starts, that situation is going to be mine,” he said.

“I never get scared of any situation or any hitter. I go in there with kind of a dog mentality – I gotta get this done now. There’s no other option. It’s a huge rush.”

When Alex MacKinnon (Aurora, Ont.) joined the Niagara University Purple Eagles, he had to reinvent himself as a reliever. Photo: Erik Grosman

Reinvention in the bullpen

MacKinnon had an impressive track record before getting to upstate New York. A former Team Ontario standout, he was named a Canadian Premier Baseball League All-Star and a National Amateur Baseball Federation All-American at the NABF World Series in Youngstown, Ohio.

The Ontario Baseball Association chose the high school hurler as Ontario Pitcher of the Year in 2013.

At Niagara, with talented upperclassmen and highly touted freshman – and future Padres draft pick – Matt Brash (Kingston, Ont.) in the rotation, MacKinnon had to reinvent himself as a reliever.

“Being put in that role was just crazy for me, because I’d been a starter my entire life until college,” MacKinnon said. “Then the coach said I was going to be out of the bullpen, so I had to learn how to adapt to that role.”

He made the switch without complaint.

“I was super fortunate to get a D1 offer, so I was willing to do whatever my coach said,” he said.

“No matter what the score is or who we’re playing, I appreciate any innings that I’m given.”

Working with the Niagara coaching staff, the right-hander filled out his six-foot-four frame and refined his arsenal, adding life to his fastball while sharpening the slider that became his strikeout pitch.

MacKinnon said he learned “to do my job and not do too much – just pitch to my strengths.”

His success at Niagara translated to summer ball. In 2019, he spent his summer pitching in the Nebraska-Expedition League – striking out 14 and walking two over 10 scoreless frames – and put in a solid showing with the Inspiration Lions of the Florida Gulf Coast Summer Collegiate League.

Last summer, MacKinnon fired nine scoreless innings over four appearances with the Freemont Moo of the Expedition Collegiate League, allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out 14.

Lions head coach Kevin Kies, from Kentucky Christian University, raved about MacKinnon’s contribution over the short season.

“Alex consistently exhibited a relentless work ethic, dominant presence on the mound, and an uncommon attention to detail in his training. His impressive command of his pitch arsenal along with his bulldog mentality on the mound frustrated opposing hitters all summer,” Kies said.

“Alex quickly emerged as the leader of our pitching staff and showed as much professionalism on and off of the field as anyone I have ever coached. It didn’t take long to see that Alex took great pride in working on his craft as well as helping his teammates work on theirs.”

McCoy points out proudly that MacKinnon was the pitcher of record in two of the biggest wins in Purple Eagles history, including his freshman win against Virginia. On the opening night of the 2020 season, he came in with two on and no out in the eighth, with Niagara clinging to a 3-1 lead against 14th-ranked Florida State.

MacKinnon coolly struck out five in a row and induced a fly ball to close out the upset road win on just 20 pitches.

Leadership ‘off the charts’

Left with unfinished business after the COVID-19 pandemic scuttled the 2020 season, MacKinnon told McCoy he would be back to help the Purple Eagles soar to a MAAC title. But he missed a month with a bicep strain and ended up totalling 8 2/3 innings over eight appearances – five of them scoreless – with two multi-inning saves.

“Whenever I went out there, I just put the pain aside and tried to focus on doing the best I can,” MacKinnon said of trying to pitch through his injury.

“My coach trusts me to get the job done, so I just tried to help the team win in any way I could.”

That attitude is classic MacKinnon, said McCoy, who said the veteran hurler will be missed “tremendously” in the clubhouse – which has a sizable Canadian contingent – and on the field.

“He’s the guy who’s early to practice to hit the infielders fungoes. He’s the guy who’s making sure young pitchers know what a daily routine looks like to be successful. He just does all the little things,” said McCoy, who made MacKinnon one of six team leaders who each looks after a “squad” of seven or eight players.

“Their job is to teach responsibility and accountability to the guys that they’re in charge of, and also be a sounding board. And those guys act as leaders to the broader group,” McCoy explained.

The coach said MacKinnon was a “phenomenal” mentor who set a hardworking example for his teammates to follow, while not shying away from vocally making a point if he felt it warranted.

“He’s one of the best player leaders I’ve had in the program since I’ve been here,” said McCoy, who is in his 14th year at Niagara. “Leadership is off the charts.”

MacKinnon said it was an honour to be trusted as a role model.

“I tried to teach them that baseball is still fun,” he said. “Yeah, it’s super demanding having to lift and practice every day, but you still play baseball because it’s fun and it’s what we want to do with our lives.”

MacKinnon kept his teammates’ spirits up when things weren’t going as well, exhorting them to “always bring energy for the boys” and “fight through adversity.”

Like any good mentor, he also listened and learned from younger players who brought new perspectives and their own experiences to the team.

“You learn something from everybody,” McCoy said. “That’s something Coach taught everybody – you don’t need to be older to learn something. I’m willing to listen to anybody.”

Next challenge

After taking off his Purple Eagles uniform for the last time, MacKinnon was faced with the question every athlete encounters sooner or later – what’s next?

No slouch in the classroom – MacKinnon was a fixture on the Dean’s List and three times made the MAAC all-academic team – he left college with an MBA and a future in sports marketing.

Eventually. The game hasn’t loosened its grip just yet.

He was in talks with several independent teams after graduation, eventually signing with the San Rafael Pacifics of the Pecos League, a summer league known for gaudy offensive numbers thanks to smaller parks and thinner air.

In 22 innings with the Pacifics, he has allowed four runs on 12 hits, with 30 strikeouts against seven walks.

That’s good for a 1.64 ERA and 0.86 WHIP to go with a 3-0 record.

“Being super competitive and winning is fun, but it’s also the relationships that I’ve made,” said MacKinnon.

“I made my best friends playing baseball, and now I’m excited to play with a new group of guys.

“I would take any opportunity I get to play. Just put me on a roster – I want to play as long as I possibly can.”

His former coach believes MacKinnon has the stuff – physically and between the ears – to make a name for himself in the pro ranks.

“I think if he stays healthy, he has the ability to get outs at a high level. He needs a little bit of a velocity jump, but he has an above-average breaking ball. Nobody can hit it,” McCoy said.

“If he’s healthy, I could see him making waves in affiliated professional baseball fairly easily. He’s a guy who doesn’t give up. From a work ethic, mental toughness standpoint, there’s nobody better. So given time and health, he’s got a shot to do some big things.”