Deck McGuire

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William Deck McGuire

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Biographical Information[edit]

Deck McGuire was a first-round pick in the 2010 amateur draft.

McGuire was All-State in his junior and senior years of high school. As a senior, he hit .471 while going 10-1 with a 1.35 ERA. He finished as his school's record holder for career strikeouts (320), wins (20), ERA (1.96), homers (14) and RBI (97). He was Virginia Player of the Year in 2007. He also was a four-year quarterback in football.

Deck was 8-1 with a 3.46 ERA as a college freshman in 2008, earning him Freshman All-American honors by Collegiate Baseball. The right-hander then was 11-2 with a 3.50 ERA as a junior. He was second in the Atlantic Coast Conference in wins, one off the pace and made All-Conference alongside Sean Gilmartin and Alex White. He was named ACC Pitcher of the Year, the first player to take that honors in Georgia Tech's illustrious history. Baseball America named him a second-team All-American while Collegiate Baseball picked him first team. Nationally, he tied for 10th in wins in NCAA Division I.

As a junior, McGuire went 9-4 with a 2.96 ERA, 118 K in 112 2/3 innings and a .226 opponent average after 16 starts. He made All-ACC first team. In college, his fastball was clocked at 91-93 mph. He is also known to throw a changeup and a strong slider.

The Toronto Blue Jays chose McGuire with the 11th pick of the 2010 amateur draft. He was new general manager Alex Anthopoulos's first pick in the draft. The Toronto Star announced his selection with the rather humorous headline: All hands on Deck for Jays with 11th pick in their June 8, 2010 print edition.

Deck threw a bullpen session on September 25, 2010 in front of Jays' officials, to show them what he was made of. He received an invitation to the 2011 Spring Training session with the club, but speculation that he would soon be pitching in Toronto proved to be overly optimistic. McGuire made his pro debut with the 2011 Dunedin Blue Jays on Opening Day. He tossed four shutout innings, allowing three hits and a walk and striking out five. He went 7-4, 2.75 in 19 games for Dunedin then got a late-season promotion to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, where he was 2-1, 4.35 in 4 games. Things went very badly in 2012 however, derailing what had been expected to be a quick march to the Show. Back at New Hampshire that season, his record was a poor 5-15, and his other numbers were not any better: 162 hits allowed in 144 innings, 62 walks, 97 strikeouts and a bloated 5.88 ERA. He returned to New Hampshire again in 2013, and while his numbers improved, they were still not of a quality associated with a top prospect: 9-10, 4.86 in 27 games. he did improve notably in a couple of areas, as in 157 1/3 innings, he allowed 148 hits and struck out 143. 2014 marked a fourth straight season playing at New Hampshire, and he went3-4, 2.98 in 10 starts to finally earn a promotion to the AAA Buffalo Bisons at the end of May. However, once there, all of the progress he had made since the start of the previous season seemingly unraveled overnight, as his ERA shot up to 5.56 in 10 starts, with 57 hits and 23 walks allowed in 55 innings. The Blue Jays gave up on him at that point, and designated him for assignment at the end of July, then sold his contract to the Oakland Athletics.

If Deck was hoping for a positive fresh start in the A's organization, it didn't happen. Pitching for the Sacramento River Cats, he put up an 8.05 ERA in 7 games and was let go at the end of the season. He moved to the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2015 and began the year back in AA with the Tulsa Drillers of the Texas League.

Deck was his mother's maiden name. McGuire has been called "Deck" by his family since his youth out of respect for his mother's side of the family (according to an interview given by Anthopoulos on The FAN590's PrimeTime Sports show on June 16, 2010).

Primary Source: Georgia Tech bio

Related Sites[edit]

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