BIOGRAPHY
Ryan McKenna was born February 14, 1997, in Grants Pass, Oregon. He is a center fielder in the MLB.
McKenna attended Portsmouth Christian Academy in Dover, New Hampshire, as a freshman, and then transferred to St. Thomas Acquinas High School in Dover following his freshman year. He committed to attend Liberty University on a college baseball scholarship.
The Baltimore Orioles selected McKenna in the fourth round of the 2015 MLB draft. He signed with the Orioles and made his professional debut with the Gulf Coast Orioles of the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League, playing in only ten games due to an ankle injury. In 2016, he played for the Aberdeen IronBirds of the Class A-Short Season New York-Penn League and batted .241 in 62 games. He played for the Delmarva Shorebirds of the Class A South Atlantic League in 2017 where he batted .256 with seven home runs and 42 RBIs in 126 games. He began the 2018 season with the Frederick Keys of the Class A-Advanced Carolina League and earned a midseason promotion to the Bowie Baysox of the Class AA Eastern League. After the 2018 season, he played for the Glendale Desert Dogs of the Arizona Fall League. He returned to Bowie to start the 2019 season.
McKenna was added to the Orioles 40–man roster following the 2019 season.
On April 5, 2021, McKenna was promoted to the major leagues for the first time to fill in for Austin Hays, who was dealing with a hamstring strain. He made his MLB debut that day as the starting right fielder against the New York Yankees. He collected his first major league hit on April 11, a triple off of Nick Pivetta of the Boston Red Sox. On July 25, McKenna collected his first career home run with a solo shot off of Washington Nationals starter Paolo Espino.
On April 1, 2023, in a game against the Boston Red Sox, McKenna dropped a Masataka Yoshida fly ball with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th inning and the Orioles ahead by 1 run. Catching the ball would have ended the game and given the Orioles the win. Baltimore, leading 7–1 at one point, would lose the game after the next batter, Adam Duvall, hit a walk-off 2-run homerun two pitches later off of Félix Bautista.
In his free time, Ryan McKenna likes to golf.
