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New York Mets pitcher Max Kranick throws against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the eighth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, May 7, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin)<\/p>\nNew York Mets pitcher Max Kranick throws against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the eighth inning of a baseball game Wednesday, May 7, 2025, in Phoenix. (AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin)<\/p>\n
Max Kranick is back in the major leagues.<\/p>\n
During the All-Star break, the Washington Nationals activated the 28-year-old Valley View graduate from the 60-day injured list.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels really good, I\u2019m excited to be back,\u201d Kranick said in a phone interview from Sacramento, where the Nationals are for a weekend series against the Athletics. \u201cThe rest of the rehab went smooth, so I\u2019m in a good place and ready to get this thing going again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kranick last pitched in the majors June 15, 2025, when he was with the New York Mets. He was enjoying a breakout season as a reliever, going 3-2 with five holds, one save, a 3.65 earned-run average and 25 strikeouts in 24 games covering 37 innings. Then he got hurt and underwent right elbow flexor tendon surgery last July 28, ending his season. After the Mets nontendered him in November, he became a free agent.<\/p>\n
Kranick was told recovery would take 11 to 12 months. Washington signed him as a free agent May 5.<\/p>\n
\u201cThroughout the free agency process, we were telling teams I was a second-half player, so timeline-wise I\u2019m exactly at the target,\u201d Kranick said. \u201cI\u2019m thankful it went that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since June 21, Kranick has made eight rehab appearances (two starts) with the Nationals\u2019 minor-league affliates: three with Triple-A Rochester, two each with Double-A Harrisburg and Single-A Fredericksburg; and one with the Florida Complex League Nationals. In 11.2 innings, he allowed nine runs (seven earned) with 13 hits with three walks and 11 strikeouts. He had a 5.40 ERA and one hold.<\/p>\n
\u201cHealth-wise I feel normal. I feel like I just finished my spring training build and I\u2019m ready to go,\u201d Kranick said. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m in a good place. Some games went really well, others were OK. But most importantly, health-wise I\u2019m in a good spot and I\u2019m ready for that next step.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joining the Nationals reunites Kranick with Grayson Crawford, who was his pitching coach with the Mets while he was at Triple-A. Crawford is the Nationals\u2019 director of pitching.<\/p>\n
The Nationals have embraced a youth movement in their leadership. President of baseball operations Paul Toboni is 35 years old. At age 33, Blake Butera is the youngest manager in the major leagues since Frank Quilici with the Minnesota Twins in 1972, Pitching coach Simon Mathews is 30 years old.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a really good relationship with him (Crawford) and became close to him over the years,\u201d Kranick said. \u201cWhen I saw he got the job here, I was hoping things would work out and thankfully they did.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a great organization. They\u2019ve recently had a lot of change. It\u2019s very young, very new school, very open-minded. So I\u2019m glad to be here, excited for the opportunity and hopefully help out any way I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
While not exactly sure what his role will be, Kranick will work as a reliever for the Nationals.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m built up to 45 pitches, so we\u2019ll see how it goes. As I throw, I\u2019m sure my role will be a little more clear,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, the plan is to get in some sort of a leverage role by the end of the season. That\u2019s my goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Washington\u2019s bullpen certainly can use Kranick. The Nationals have blown a MLB-high 27 saves in 54 chances. In a three-game series sweep by the Yankees right before the All-Star break, the Nationals coughed up leads in the eighth inning or later in all three games.<\/p>\n
Still, the Nationals are in 48-49, eight games behind the Atlanta Braves in the National League East Division and four games back in the wild-card race.<\/p>\n
Following the series against the Athletics, the Nationals head to Colorado for a three-game series against the Rockies on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.<\/p>\n
That means Kranick could wind up facing Jake McCarthy for the first time since 2015 when McCarthy was a senior at Scranton High School and Kranick was a junior at Valley View.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been talking about it for years,\u201d Kranick said. \u201cOccasionally, I get a text from him, what he thinks he\u2019s going to do off me, busting me. In all seriousness, we\u2019re excited. It\u2019s been over 10 years since we faced each other. I\u2019m thrilled for the success he\u2019s having this year, but not surprised by it. I\u2019m happy he\u2019s in a place where they\u2019re playing him every day and he\u2019s got a true role. That\u2019s great to see.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCarthy is batting .301 (84 for 279) in 83 games with 18 doubles, six triples, 10 home runs, 53 RBIs and 39 runs. Two of his home runs have been inside-the-parkers that led off games. He is the first player to accomplish the feat in the same season since Hall of Famer Edd Roush of the New York Giants in 1929.<\/p>\n
Kranick is looking forward to picking up where he left off last season with the Mets.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year taught me when I\u2019m healthy, my stuff plays in the zone,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you fill up the strike zone, good things usually happen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Mets pitcher Max Kranick throws against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the eighth inning of a baseball…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[1423,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-246058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-mlb","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}