Cal notes: MacKinnon has goalie's mind-set

Three days after Angels prospect David MacKinnon joined Inland Empire from Class A Burlington on May 22, he had something of a family reunion when the 66ers hosted the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes.
MacKinnon got to play against his former Cape Cod League teammate and now brother-in-law, Dodgers No. 16 prospectConnor Wong, who catches for the Quakes.

MacKinnon and Wong played together for the Bourne Braves in the summer of 2016. While on the Cape, Wong's sister, Jordan, came to visit and the rest is history.
"His sister came up and visited during the summer and we kind of hit it off," MacKinnon said. "We ended up getting married, so I see Connor a lot."
He likened meeting his wife to the Freddie Prinze Jr. movie, Summer Catch.
"Very similar to that," MacKinnon said with a smile. "It was better than that, but that's the joke -- she's my summer catch."
MacKinnon and Wong were both drafted in 2017, with MacKinnon going to the Angels in the 32nd round, 29 rounds after the Dodgers took Wong.
"We both went to L.A., so that was kind of cool," MacKinnon said.
MacKinnon started this season in Burlington, where he and Jordan shared an apartment with outfielder Torii Hunter Jr. and his wife. When he moved up to Inland Empire, Jordan came with him and they live with one of MacKinnon's college teammates and his family.
"That's been fun," MacKinnon said. "My wife and his mom are best friends now, so they have a blast."
Making the adjustment from Class A to Class A Advanced wasn't easy for MacKinnon. He batted .189 with one homer, two doubles and six RBIs in 22 games in the first half of the season.

"It took a little longer than I thought it was going to take," MacKinnon said. "It was a struggle at the beginning, just because in Low-A I was able to kind of take in a lot more pitches and kind of work the count a little bit more. Now they kind of come at you with fastballs and they come at you with off-speed pitches that are actually in the zone. So you kind of pick and choose your battles."
It didn't help to play against his brother-in-law, who knows his hitting habits well.
"We play against him a lot," MacKinnon said. "He catches, so he knows how to pitch me. He knows I don't like to swing at the first pitch and he usually drills one over the plate. It's been fun."
In 16 games against Wong's Quakes, MacKinnon is 10-for-49 (.204) with three doubles, seven walks and three RBIs.
In the past month or so, however, he's been finding more consistency at the plate, thanks to 66ers hitting instructor Brian Betancourth and Angels assistant hitting coordinator Shawn Wooten.
"We have our hitting coordinators come in and, obviously, our hitting coach Bet, he's done a really good job with me, just like the day-to-day stuff, keeping me confident and getting my drills in," MacKinnon said. "But we have one of our coordinators, Woot, he's really helped me a lot with these different drills -- he's made small adjustments and it's kind of opened me up to hit for a lot more power, too, over the last couple of weeks.
"And it's not anything major, just kind of switched my stance up a little bit. Now I'm standing more upright and have a better chance to hit the ball in the air."
In the second half, MacKinnon is hitting .312 with three homers, 13 doubles and 29 RBIs. Through Saturday, he was batting .412/.463/.853 in August.
Something that never suffered was MacKinnon's defense. He was a two-sport athlete at the University of Hartford, playing both baseball and soccer. As a goalkeeper, he set the single-season school record with nine shutouts.
The Massachusetts native brought some of that goalkeeping mentality to first base for the 66ers. He made a diving stop against the JetHawks last week, preserving a one-run lead in the bottom of the 10th inning.
"I'm a little bit more agile than a lot of first basemen," he said. "A lot of guys are in there for their bat. But for me, I do bring a defensive aspect to the game, too. … I don't like making errors. I like to [help] our infielders. If I can control something, like if they make a bad throw and if I can pick it, that's my job to pick it. If they have no errors, I look good, too.

"I think being a goalie definitely helps with quickness and first step and dive. It's the same thing as goalie: a shot comes in, step, dive. It's so quick, it's just kind of reaction time at that point."
MacKinnon has been enjoying his time in the California League and is hoping to keep improving at the plate as the season winds down.
"I just want to stay comfortable at the plate, make good swings, hit the ball in the air, and if they're homers, they're homers; if they're doubles, they're doubles; and if they're singles, they're singles," he said. "I just want to be comfortable and continue to get better and improve."

In brief

Hot streak: JetHawks infielder Bret Boswell, the Rockies' 29th-ranked prospect, has been on fire since joining Lancaster from Class A Asheville on July 31. The 2017 eighth-round pick batted .385 with three doubles and five homers, including a walk-off shot, and 12 RBIs in his first nine games with the team.
Big leaguers: The 66ers had Angels catcher René Rivera with them for a few days last week, while the Quakes had Dodgers left-hander Julio Urías on the mound Friday. There have been plenty of Major Leaguers in the Cal League this season. The 66ers also have had Angels right-hander Garrett Richards and infielder Jefry Marte during rehab stints. "That's been cool," first baseman David MacKinnon said. "It's always fun to learn from the guys that have been in the big leagues for awhile, to see how they go about their business on a day-to-day basis and see how they do all the stuff in the cage and then out to the field to take BP and see how they go about everything."
Swapped: In the first-half standings, the North Division had two teams over .500 and a third near the break-even mark, while the South Division had one team [Rancho Cucamonga] at .500. In the second half, it's the opposite as three South teams are above .500, with the Quakes again leading the way at 34-14, followed by Lancaster (30-18), Inland Empire (27-21) and Lake Elsinore (23-25). Meanwhile, all four North teams are under .500 -- Stockton (22-26), Modesto (20-28), Visalia (20-28), San Jose (16-32) -- and the second-half title is up for grabs with three weeks left in the season.