Not long after the Colorado Rockies selected Ryan McMahon in the second round of the 2013 draft, the third baseman began casually, but regularly, asking the club’s farm director, Zach Wilson, about trying second base. That the 6-foot-2, 219-pound McMahon was a power-hitting corner infielder who hadn’t played second base since he was 12 years old was beside the point.
“I just kept throwing it in there, kind of trying to be funny, but then it happened,” McMahon said, adding more seriously: “At that point, I was just trying to do anything I could to get to the big leagues.