The NL West's Old Minor Leaguers

I move to the National League West to present the third installment of my review of minor leaguers who are 35 years old or older and haven't played in the major leagues yet this year.

• Kelly Stinnett leads the list off with the Dodgers in Triple-A where he isn't hitting a lick. His .572 OPS matches Los Angeles's major league catching backup, Mike Leiberthal -- also in the 35+ age range.
• No one fits the bill in the Diamondback or Padre organizations. But the Giants have a first baseman named, Scott McClain whose 35 and is hitting at a .754 OPS. Ricardo Rincon (37) is McClain's teammate in Triple-A and has thrown 5.1 innings to this point.
• Colorado knocks in with Frank Menechino whose grabbed nine at-bats in Triple-A. Mike DeJean (remember him?) is in Double-A and has struggled mightly in just 4.1 innings.

Which one of these five is not like the others? Scott McClain of course. The other four have enjoyed years and years of playing time at the major league level and are in these organizations minor league systems as veteran ready talent ready to fill-in for an injured major leaguer.

McClain, on the other hand, was originally drafted in the 22nd round by the Orioles in 1990. He first made it to the show in 1998 with Tampa Bay in their inaugural season. He had 23 plate appearances that year and would see his next and last 16 major league plate appearances in 2005 with Cubs. The cumulative returns of those two stints was a .378 OPS. In between those major league stints McClain played in Japan for four seasons. In his best season there he produced a .905 OPS with 39 homers.

In McClain's last two seasons at the Triple-A level he's hit 30 and 28 homers in the Cub and Athletic organizations respectively. Off to a solid start this season, there's no doubt that he's always been able to hit at the Triple-A level.

McClain in 2005 with the Triple-A Cubs