In a normal year, Nolan McLean might not have even made it to a college campus. The 6-foot-3, 225-pound rocket-armed right-hander was projected to be a high draft selection in the 2020 MLB Draft, the prodigious type of talent that rarely spends time — if any — between high school and the pros.
But the COVID-19 pandemic cut the draft down from the usual 40 rounds to five, and MLB clubs didn’t spend a draft pick on the high school star prospect from North Carolina.
Now McLean, a future pro whose career under normal circumstances would probably already have started, finds himself in Stillwater juggling his time between Boone Pickens Stadium and O’Brate Stadium.