WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — With Kodai Senga injured, Max Kranick has a chance to pitch for the team he grew up rooting for out of spring training. The right-hander turned in a solid first audition Monday with two scoreless innings in the Mets‘ 6-3 Grapefruit League win over the Washington Nationals.
Kranick grew up in a family of Mets fans in the Scranton area. On Sunday, the family would make the drive to Shea Stadium, where they had season tickets.
“There were many mornings and nights driving there and driving home,” Kranick said Monday at Cacti Park of the Palm Beaches.
Like many Mets fans, the 26-year-old right-hander grew up idolizing David Wright, but his knowledge of the Mets extends well beyond for the former captain. Kranick even remembers when Queens-based group Kuff and the Buttheads recorded a song called “Endy Chavez.”
Pitching for the Mets would be a childhood dream realized, but Kranick is just hoping to get back to the big leagues after Tommy John surgery wiped out his last two seasons. His last big league appearance came May 11, 2022, with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Kranick experienced forearm tightness around that time that ultimately led to surgery, but the Mets were intrigued enough with those 11 appearances to claim him off waivers over the winter.
“This is a guy that’s got a fastball that has rise, a breaking ball low, and I think the biggest thing is that conviction when he’s throwing his pitches,” said manager Carlos Mendoza. “He’s a guy that he’s been through a lot. It’s not easy to go through Tommy John surgery and be able to get back to being himself. But so far, he’s been great and we’re looking forward to watching him.”
Kranick can start or work out of the bullpen, but with the Mets needing rotation depth, they’re stretching him out to start. The addition of a two-seam fastball and a sinker should help bolster his case to be added to the rotation.
The sinker was something Kranick worked on previously, but the two-seamer was a pitch he decided to throw shortly before heading to Port St. Lucie for spring training. He came into his first Grapefruit League start with the goal of throwing it against righties.
“It’s brand new, like three weeks old now,” Kranick said. “It was exciting to use it. I’ve never had something that [breaks] right before and as a starter, I feel like righties would just kind of lean out over the plate. So it’s something to keep them honest. I have a lot of other stuff that breaks left.”
Kranick has credited the Mets’ staff for helping him develop the pitch in such a short amount of time. He used a photo of the grip to help him through the process and threw it with confidence.
“I found the grip, took a picture of the grip and continued to grab the ball with that grip.” Kranick said. “I think the last thing is like having conviction with it. So like today, it was gripping it and being like, ‘OK, I’m going to drive this through the catcher and it’s going to do what it’s going to do and I trust it. So I think that was a big step for me today.”
Kranick faced six batters and struck out two of them Monday. He froze Joey Gallo, a left-handed hitter on a curveball. One of those two-seamers stayed on the ground for an easy out.
“I thought he was really good the way he attacked the zone and used his pitches,” Mendoza said. “I thought he used his two-seam — a new pitch — well. He got a ground ball, which was good, and the velo was up, which is good for a guy coming off Tommy John surgery.”
Kranick made seven starts in Triple-A following his injury, going 0-1 with a 2.76 ERA.
Right-handers Tylor Megill, Jose Butto and Kranick are all vying for a spot in the rotation, along with left-hander Joey Lucchesi. Megill and Butto both pitched over the weekend and will get a few more spring starts, be it in Grapefruit League games or on the backfields in minor league games, to determine a winner. However, the Mets will probably need all three pitchers at some point throughout the season, though it’s worth noting that Butto, Megill and Lucchesi still have minor-league options but Kranick does not.
The expedited two-seamer might be the key to pitching for his childhood team.
“Before he got hurt, he had really good stuff. Last year when he got back from his injury, he was a little timid,” Mendoza said. “But it was really good to see today that he attacked the zone and threw his pitches with conviction.”
