That became the story Thursday night at Bucks County Community College, where McNab, a Holy Ghost Prep graduate and state champion committed to pitch at Division I Gardner-Webb University, showcased the full depth of his five-pitch arsenal in a Philly Select League matchup between Philly Bandits Black and Philly Bandits Red.
The game ended in a 5-5 tie, but before the offenses opened things up late, McNab gave Bandits Black four sharp, scoreless innings and turned his outing into the night’s biggest takeaway.
The right-hander struck out four, scattered four hits, all singles, and walked one. He generated swings and misses, but his command and efficiency drove the performance. More than anything, he showed an ability to read the game as it changed.
"This was a really rare start where I could throw all five of my pitches for a strike," McNab said. "My whole arsenal felt really sharp, especially the fastball and the sinker. Commanding that was probably the biggest part of the game for me."
McNab’s mix includes a fastball, sinker, splitter, slider and knuckle curveball. He can get outs with all five. But early in the game, McNab and catcher Josh Stonesifer recognized that the top of the Bandits Red lineup was handling some of the off-speed stuff well.
So they adjusted.
Rather than force a secondary-heavy approach, McNab leaned more into his velocity, attacked hitters more directly and used his harder stuff to control counts.
"We realized what was going to work," McNab said.
The results came quickly.
McNab ran into his only real trouble in the first inning, when he allowed back-to-back singles with one out. But instead of letting the inning expand, he induced a ground-ball double play and walked off the mound with the game still scoreless.
After that, he settled in.
McNab allowed just three baserunners over his final three innings. He finished his outing by retiring the side in order on four pitches in the fourth, a clean punctuation mark on a night built as much on pitchability as power.
That combination drew praise from Bandits Black head coach Steve Melly and assistant coach Rich Cambria.
"He's electric. He can throw five pitches for strikes. He can get strikeouts, but he can also pitch to contact and get quick outs," Melly said, noting that McNab could have gone deeper into the game, but the staff wanted to keep his pitch count down.
Cambria saw the same thing, especially in the way McNab managed the game from inning to inning.
"Being efficient, getting some outs, using all of those pitches for strikes, getting ahead. I thought that was all really impressive out of him," Cambria said. "He's very analytical. He's looking for any way to get the advantage the next inning."
That is where McNab’s development becomes especially intriguing. He is not just throwing pitches. He is studying them. He is tinkering with shapes, reading hitters between innings and looking for the smallest edge he can carry into the next at-bat.
For a pitcher still relatively new to the position, that matters.
Melly said McNab, who finished high school as a two-way player, only truly began pitching “for real” two years ago. That makes the polish, the feel and the command of a five-pitch mix stand out even more.
"For him to be where he's at right now with only two years under his belt just shows you how much he's worked," Melly said. "He's a hard worker, he’s a high-IQ guy, he’s very driven. He can be a really big difference-maker at the next level."
Thursday night was not a finished-product performance. It was something more interesting than that.
It was a glimpse.
A glimpse of a pitcher with real stuff, a growing understanding of how to use it and the confidence to change direction when the game demands it.
“He’s a dog,” Melly said. "I don't even know what the ceiling is, to be honest with you.”
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