Born in Slovakia, Macko grew up in Ireland and played high school baseball in Alberta, Canada, making him one of this system’s most unique development stories. He was acquired from the Mariners as a smaller piece in the Erik Swanson deal in November 2022, but has developed into one of the system’s highest-upside arms since then. This has always been more about the projection of Macko’s pitches than the numbers, though, and many in the organization are looking to the lefty to take the next step in 2026.
Last season, Macko put up a 5.06 ERA over 64 innings in Triple-A after missing the beginning of the year for arthroscopic surgery to clean up a meniscus tear, but once again finished the campaign far stronger. His fastball sits 92-94 mph, and he shows a strong curveball and a slider that’s still slightly ahead of his changeup. The Blue Jays will keep Macko in a bulk role, which should allow him to maximize these pitches without needing to face lineups a second and third time.
This feels like the season where the Blue Jays need to see the southpaw’s numbers line up with his talent. In a perfect world, Macko provides the organization with some length from Triple-A and he has the potential to emerge as a lefty bullpen option at some point by mid-season. He’s proven he gets stronger as the season goes on, so the first step is staying healthy and settling into a regular routine in Triple-A.
Born in Slovakia, Macko grew up in Ireland and played high school baseball in Alberta, Canada, making him one of this system’s most unique development stories. Macko was acquired from the Mariners as a smaller piece in the Erik Swanson deal, but has developed into one of the system’s highest-upside arms since then. After coming on strong down the stretch in 2023, Macko posted a 4.63 ERA in ‘24 with 105 strikeouts over 93 1/3 innings, climbing from High-A to Triple-A. The lefty was poised for a big camp in ‘25, but a bad-luck knee injury in February led to Macko undergoing arthroscopic surgery to clean up a meniscus tear.
That will cut into his 2025 season significantly, but given that Macko was headed for Triple-A, he’ll still have time to make an impact if it all comes together. His fastball had started reaching the mid-90s more often and his curveball already profiles as a legitimate out pitch in the big leagues, so the upside is undoubtedly there. Macko’s slider is still a bit ahead of his changeup at this point.
The knee surgery complicated what should have been a big year for Macko. He'll need a strong finish to 2025 to reposition himself for a chance at a Major League spot coming out of next spring. As much as you can chalk this up to a lost year, the Jays' increasingly deep line of arms threatens Macko's standing heading into 2026.
Born in Slovakia, Macko grew up in Ireland and played high school baseball in Alberta, Canada, making him one of this system’s most unique development stories. Macko was acquired from the Mariners as a smaller piece in the Erik Swanson deal, but we’re starting to see the upside Blue Jays scouts were so excited about at the time. Macko is a popular breakout pick for 2024, but that already started at the tail end of his ‘23 season when he finished with three of his best outings. Down the stretch, Macko struck out 26 batters over 15 innings of one-run, three-hit ball.
The most encouraging number was the 86 innings Macko pitched in 2023, a career high at 22 years old after battling injuries earlier in his career. Not only did he maintain his velocities through the season, he actually got stronger, which is rare. Macko typically reaches up to touch the mid-90s, but he’s showing more consistently that he has an extra gear. He'll show a 12-to-6 curveball in the mid-70s that has acted as his best whiff-heavy pitch, and he's also mixed in more of a 81-84 mph slider with some sweep. His 79-81 mph changeup has developed enough to become at least an average pitch.
The Blue Jays have already added Macko to their 40-man roster, and he was showing the right amount of gains -- particularly in the control department -- to be considered a much-needed success story in the Toronto system, until he began dealing with left forearm soreness. He is expected to avoid surgery, but the injury clouds what's otherwise been a positive year for the southpaw.
Born in Slovakia, Macko grew up in Ireland and played high school baseball in Alberta, Canada, making for a unique path. In Alberta, Macko pitched for Vauxhall Academy, one of Canada’s top baseball schools, which helped expose him to scouts. Much of Macko’s pitching is self-taught, though, from watching aces of his day like David Price and Justin Verlander.
An elbow strain and meniscus injury limited Macko to 38 1/3 innings in 2022, posting a 4.59 ERA, and he posted a 6.08 ERA while getting in another 13 1/3 innings in the Arizona Fall League. Macko’s upside is far brighter than those early numbers, though, and getting a full healthy season under his belt will be the first priority for the Blue Jays after they added him alongside Erik Swanson in the Teoscar Hernandez deal over the offseason.
Macko has added some bulk in recent years, which has helped greatly. It’s enabled him to reach into the upper-90s with his fastball at times, though it sits in the low-to-mid-90s range, and his strikeout upside is significant thanks to a strong curveball and fast-improving slider. He’s now a drastically different pitcher than he was when the Mariners drafted him in the seventh round in 2019. If he can continue on this trajectory, there is a very enticing ceiling to the young lefty, even if injury and control concerns have hampered his path in recent years.
Macko grew up in Ireland and graduated high school in Alberta, but he was born in Slovakia. If he reaches the Majors, he’d become the third player ever to do so from that country. When his family moved to Alberta, he enrolled at Vauxhall Academy, one of Canada’s premier baseball schools, which put him on scouts’ radars. And his rise has been reflective of today’s YouTube era, given that he taught himself how to pitch by watching videos of David Price and Justin Verlander, among other elite aces. After being limited to 38 1/3 High-A innings in 2022 due to an elbow strain and meniscus injury, Macko was traded from the Mariners to the Blue Jays in a three-player deal that sent Teoscar Hernández the other way in November.
When Seattle drafted him in the seventh round in 2019, he was in the 150-155-pound range, and he’s since bulked up to 205, which has helped bring his stuff along in an incredibly positive way. Averaging 88 mph right after he signed, he averaged around 93.5 mph in 2021 and topped out at 97 as recently as the club’s Gas Camp this offseason, with more bite. While Macko’s curveball has always been his bread and butter, and that pitch has improved, his new slider might end up his best weapon, sitting around 83-85 mph with a lot of sweep. Overall, he has struck out at least 35 percent of his batters faced in his last two seasons.
For all of these reasons, the 21-year-old possesses a unique blend of movement and velocity, which isn’t exactly what the Mariners were expecting -- a much-improved hurler compared to the raw lefty who entered 2021. Macko’s injury woes -- he also threw only 33 1/3 frames in 2021 due to rotator tendinitis -- will still be a concern in Toronto, as will be his problems with control, but he remains raw on the mound with an arrow pointing up. The 21-year-old will be Rule 5-eligible at the end of the 2023 season.
Though he grew up in Ireland and graduated from high school in Alberta, Macko was born in Slovakia, which would make him the third Slovakian player ever to reach the Majors. His ascent has been a fascinating one, particularly since he taught himself how to pitch through YouTube videos of David Price and Justin Verlander, among other elite aces. When his family moved to Alberta, he enrolled at Vauxhall Academy, one of Canada’s top baseball schools, which put him on scouts’ radars.
When the Mariners drafted Macko in the seventh round in 2019, he had plenty of room to build out his 6-foot, 170-pound frame, particularly with his upper body. Macko’s multi-pitch repertoire has tremendous upside, but he’ll still need to show he can execute those offerings consistently before Seattle dives in to determine what his profile is long term.
Overall, Macko comes into 2021 incredibly raw and with the need to develop. His ability as a left-hander with some legitimate command is promising, but he’ll need to grow upon his velocity and better fortify his multi-pitch mix to remain in consideration to be a starter. Long term, the Mariners could see him better positioned for a spot in the bullpen.
How this works:
This section shows two different ways to evaluate pitch movement.
On the left, “Total Movement” shows the real-world movement of a pitch, including the forces of gravity, which affects every pitch thrown.
Since gravity requires time, and slower pitches aren't 'better' just because they have more time to move, a pitch's movement is compared to other pitches of the same pitch type, within +/- 2 MPH and +/- 0.5 feet of extension/release.
On the right, Induced Movement (or IVB) is reported without gravity, and attempts to isolate movement created by the pitcher's ability to spin and manipulate the ball.
These run values are leveraged, meaning the base/out situation at the time of the event does impact the run value (thus introducing context outside the batter's own contribution).
! Note: Shifts are through the 2022 season, Shaded starting from the 2023 season, Shift:
three or more infielders are on the same side of second base, Shade: positioned outside of
their typical responsible slices of the field. Learn more about
how positioning is defined here
