Ryan McCarty: Heart, Hustle, and Dedication

Ryan McCarty in a Toronto Blue Jays Uniform

Posted By: Justin Fileccia Pizzo November 17, 2023

Justin Fileccia Pizzo

Ryan McCarty leads Abington all time in just about every offensive category. This includes hits, home runs, runs batted in, among many many more. He was also a semifinalist in the Golden Spikes Award for 2022 and was the only D3 player in the conversation. He defied the odds when he was signed to a free agent deal by the Toronto Blue Jays in July of 2022. Now, this former Nittany Lion and all-time greatest athlete in Abington sports history is returning to offer his wisdom to a young baseball team.

In his final season with Abington, McCarty had arguably the greatest college baseball season of all time. In 2022 he finished with a slash line of .529/.591/1.164 while hitting 29 HR’s and driving in 91 RBI. His first season in professional baseball understandably looked a lot different than this. He went from facing D3 players to facing some of the best players in the world in a matter of months.

 “There is definitely a sense of reality once you get there because you can’t put that pressure on yourself to do that good.” McCarty says. It’s a true challenge to anyone’s confidence even when there isn’t anything to be confident about.” 

He now has his first full professional season under his belt, and adversity was certainly present being one of the only D3 products in the MiLB. “You have to be more confident in the intangibles,” he says. “Whether that be your work ethic, approach, or just your ability in general.” 

McCarty started in Dunedin FL with the Blue Jays low A affiliate. This would also be the first time he had to live away from home. “The everyday grind is truly next level and brings countless struggles. Whether people don’t like being away from family or your body is beat up and you just have to keep going.” Prior to the end of the 2023 season, he was promoted to the Blue Jays high A affiliate which is based out of Vancouver, Canada. This was another big move and another step towards accomplishing the greater goal. 

These struggles only make the goal seem more urgent for some. McCarty then goes on to say “It’s truly beautiful and you have to embrace those struggles and find happiness in how hard this is because it can either break you or you can let it make you and turn it into something great.” 

McCarty looks back fondly on his time at Abington and credits the coaches and teammates he met along the way to helping him get to this next level. When talking about the coaching staff, he states that he was “able to make friendships for life, I learned so much mentally and physically from these guys whether it was about the game or life itself.” He says that he made “a ton of fun memories [with teammates], but we also cracked down when we needed to and got a lot of work done. They still provide me with a ton of support to this day and it’s a blessing to see them follow me along this journey.” 

Many young kids dream of one day playing a professional sport. A minority of them will ever get to fulfill that dream. McCarty is one of them. However, this was never the end goal for him. “I like to call that part 1 of the dream.” He also states that, “The end goal is to become an excellent everyday big leaguer and ultimately win a World Series. This has been the goal ever since I started playing baseball.”

The cliche is to always have a plan B, just in case plan A doesn’t work out. For McCarty, a plan B was simply never an option. “Why would I prepare to fail?” This kind of dedication to one goal, one mindset, and one outcome is what he attributes to the success he’s achieved. 

His success in college ball certainly should not go unnoticed. However, McCarty mentions that “it all resets and now I get the opportunity to do all this work and more all over again.”

In 59 games at Low A Dunedin, McCarty recorded a slash line of .244/.339/.449. This eventually got him the call up to Vancouver where he played in 38 games and recorded a slash line of .248/.369/.397. He is hoping to open up his next season in Vancouver and continue to climb the ladder.  

In the final weeks of his college career is when things really started to ramp up in terms of discussions with major league teams. “It honestly didn’t become a reality until I started to get the attention on social media.” McCarty says. “I started getting a lot of random phone calls from these big league organizations. Scouts were coming to games and recording everything. It was amazing but very overwhelming at the same time.”

McCarty provided a nation of D3 players with a sense of hope that anything is possible. “I was able to see a lot of DMs from other D3 players, or players who were committing to a D3 school, and it gave me another great reason and purpose to play this game.” McCarty goes on to credit all of this to his work ethic. He describes it as “the work you do when no one is looking.” 

As a message to all young athletes striving for greatness, McCarty says “It’s all about playing the right way, playing hard and hustling, and being the best teammate at all times.” 

Ryan McCarty stands as a figure of hope and dedication to young athletes with big dreams. He stands alone in Abington history as the only athlete to go on to play professionally in his sport. He offers this wisdom not only to baseball players, but to all athletes who are hungry to make it to the next level. His story is one that should inspire athletes to play the game with heart, hustle, and dedication. 

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