Image: (Corey Sipkin/New York Post)
If you tune into any form of media about the New York Mets, you’ll probably hear a lot about guys like Pete Alonso, Francisco Lindor, or a certain $765 million man. While the bright and shiny toys are fantastic, us sabermetric sickos love to go a level deeper, shining light on under-the-radar talents, and Max Kranick is exactly that.
Kranick grew up in Archbald, Pennsylvania. Despite this, he was a lifelong Mets fan. In an interview with MLB Network, he reminisced about growing up a Mets fan, traveling to Shea Stadium, and his memories of his favorite player. David Wright. After a stellar high school career at Valley View High School, Kranick was drafted by the hometown Pittsburgh Pirates in the 11th round of the 2016 MLB Draft. He made his MLB debut in 2021 vs the Cardinals.
In his debut, he set an MLB record for most batters retired to start a career with 15, unfortunately having his start cut short due to a rain delay. He struggled over his next 8 starts, culminating in a 6.28 ERA over 38 ⅔ innings. In 2022, he started the season in AAA, before undergoing Tommy John surgery.
He never pitched for the Pirates again and was DFA’d in early 2024, but luckily, his lifelong favorite team quickly picked him up. Kranick spent the bulk of the 2024 season rehabbing and was able to make 6 starts across varying minor league levels for the Mets, compiling a 4.30 ERA across 14 ⅔ innings. He was DFA’d by the Mets on May 6th, but cleared waivers and ended back in the Mets organization.
This career path doesn’t scream “future contributor” or even “future replacement level MLB player,” but I believe Kranick has the makings of the former for the 2025 Mets.
The Stuff:
Spring Training provides a key opportunity for players like Kranick to break out and earn a place on a big league roster, and that is exactly what Kranick was able to do. Over 12.1 innings this spring, Kranick only allowed 2 ER while striking out 15. However, as a wise man (myself) once said, “spring training results are fickle, focus on the underlying data.” Luckily for Kranick, the deeper we go, the better it gets.
A huge credit to Jeremy Maschino of Pitch Profiler for the data.
Kranick’s pitch metrics are a thing of beauty. His Four-Seam Fastball sits mid-90s with a beautiful 18.1 inches of Induced Vertical Break (IVB). For reference, Blake Snell’s Four-Seam Fastball had similar velocity and the same IVB.
His true slider is also fantastic with -4.6 inches of horizontal break and 8 inches of IVB. However, the true revelation is his newly adopted Sweeper. The concept of a “Sweeper” has taken over baseball discourse, and essentially describes a slider with intentionally pronounced horizontal movement, as opposed to the faster and tighter break of a traditional slider. Kranick’s sweeper has 8.5 inches of IVB alongside a fantastic -14.9 inches of horizontal break, which is on par with some of the better sweepers in MLB.
Beyond the raw pitch characteristics, Kranick’s release point has been incredibly consistent, which has allowed him to successfully tunnel his newly adopted sweeper with his fastball, and has proved successful in his small sample in 2025.
What’s Next?:
So far, in 2025, Kranick has made 2 appearances for the Mets, tossing 3.2 innings of scoreless ball, highlighted by escaping a bases-loaded jam vs the Astros by getting Yordan Alvarez to pop out and Christian Walker to ground out. While the results are incredibly eye-opening, there’s always a concern over small sample pitch data, but waiting for more data to make bold predictions is no fun, so I’ll say it: Max Kranick will be an indispensable piece for the Mets in 2025. Whether it be as a swing man or a consistent bullpen arm, I’m confident that by season’s end, Mets fans will be saying, “Where would we have been without Max Kranick?”
Categories: Analysis, MLB Player Profiles
M-SABR 
Leave a comment