Delco’s Kevin McGonigle models his game after Chase Utley and could be a top pick in the 2023 MLB draft

Kevin McGonigle was not yet born when Chase Utley reached the majors. He was in diapers when Harry Kalas dubbed Utley “The Man,” was in kindergarten when Utley led the Phillies to the World Series, and in elementary school when Utley’s time in Philadelphia came to an end.

He was barely old enough to appreciate Utley during his 13 seasons in South Philadelphia. But that has not stopped McGonigle — a Delaware County high school star projected to be a first-round pick in next year’s MLB Draft — from modeling his game after the Phillies icon.

“I study a lot of films from guys from the past, and Chase Utley is my main guy that I like to watch,” said McGonigle, who will be a senior this fall at Bonner-Prendergast. “I also like watching Tony Gwynn, but growing up in Delaware County and watching the Phils win in ‘08 and the great teams they had for those years was awesome to watch. The one guy who stood out to me was Chase Utley, and that’s who I try to model my game after.”

McGonigle, a shortstop who hit .457 last season as Bonner won the Catholic League title, grew up a rabid Phillies fan in Alden. His father, Kevin, told him to watch Utley.

“You can see his compact swing and his two-strike approach, and he had the right mindset,” said McGonigle, a left-handed hitting infielder just like Utley. “The way he ran on and off the field. Even after a bad at-bat or an error, he always had his chin up and ran off the field.”

Studying Utley has worked as McGonigle solidified himself this summer as one of next year’s elite draft prospects. Both MLB.com and Baseball America projected McGonigle this week to be a top-10 pick next year. He has spent most of the summer on the road playing in tournaments and showcases with the nation’s top players. He was at Dodger Stadium last week and will play next week at the Tampa Bay Rays’ Tropicana Field.

“It’s been a lot, but I love it,” McGonigle said. “It feels like a full-time job, kind of, but I really enjoy it. I’m meeting a lot of new kids along the way, and it’s really good to play against the top competition in our class. I definitely learned a lot more about the game than what I knew before.”

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Steve DeBarberie has coached McGonigle at Bonner since he was a freshman, so surely there was a memory that stands out early in McGonigle’s high school career when the coach knew this kid was special.

“Oh no,” DeBarberie said. “You knew in fifth and sixth grade.”

DeBarberie, then an assistant at Bonner under his father, would attend the games at Drexel Hill Little League to get a peek at the next crop of kids who could be coming to school. You couldn’t miss McGonigle.

“It just seemed like he would have two or three home runs every game on the little field,” DeBarberie said. “That’s when I really saw it. He was a small, pudgy kid, but his left-handed swing was absolutely incredible.”

McGonigle was recruited by every high school program, but he picked Bonner — where his two older siblings went — so he could play alongside the kids with whom he grew up. And that allowed DeBarberie to find out that McGonigle had more than just a smooth swing.

“You hear these stories about kids who are that talented, and they’re a little arrogant and this and that,” DeBarberie said. “He is the most humble kid you’d ever meet. At Bonner, we had such a great team. We weren’t just Kevin McGonigle. We had a lot of Division I talent all over the field, and he kind of elevates his teammates’ games, not only himself but the kids around him. He’s a leader. He’s the hardest worker, and kids just gravitate toward him. He’s an amazing kid.”

McGonigle hit 11 homers last season in 27 games while striking out just twice with a 1.557 OPS over 110 plate appearances. He walked 21 times as teams pitched around him, yet still drove in a team-high 32 runs. He was the Catholic League’s Defensive Player of the Year for his smooth play at shortstop.

“He’s very aggressive,” said DeBarberie, who graduated from Bonner in 2006. “It seems like the better the competition, the harder the kids are throwing, the better he is. It’s crazy. His bat-to-ball skills are the best I’ve ever seen as a high-school hitter, and we’ve had some good ones in our league. I’ve seen some good ones in the area. But Kevin is just on a whole different level. The way he gets the barrel onto the baseball is incredible. Even his outs. Line drives all over the field.”

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McGonigle’s summer has played out in front of hoards of scouts, and the crowds will only grow next season as the draft nears. But he said he does not pay any mind to it.

“I’m just trying to play my game. I’m not worried about who’s in the stands or anything like that,” McGonigle said. “During the game, I’m just trying to help my team win. That’s my main mindset. I let all the other things not get to me. I feel like some kids in my class might get nervous with scouts in the crowd, but I feel like it’s a really good thing that I’m able to block them out.”

It’s hard to imagine a teenager so unfazed by the attention, but his coach said that’s how McGonigle has always been. When the buzz started last season, nothing changed. McGonigle was unbothered. And perhaps that’s because of where he’s from.

“I love it. It’s definitely blue-collar,” McGonigle said of his Delaware County town. “You have to earn everything. You have to work for it. The way I was raised, my mom and dad always told me that I have to work for everything that I want in life. My dad pushes me every day to get better at baseball, and I love it.”

McGonigle said he’s not thinking about next year’s draft, as his mind is on going to Auburn — where he orally committed in July 2020 — and winning an SEC title. He’s strictly business, just like the player he modeled his game after.

But as his stock continues to rise this summer, McGonigle might be the only one not dreaming about what next summer will hold.

“Next year is in Seattle,” DeBarberie said of the 2023 MLB draft. “So I’m already thinking to myself, ‘Am I going to be flying out to Seattle or is he going to have a draft party local?’ But I don’t want to ask him because he’s not even thinking about that at all. He has his nose down. He’s in the moment, worried about today and today only. He just puts one step in front of another and goes to work.”