Kranick to Debut With Pittsburgh on Sunday

INDIANAPOLIS – The Pittsburgh Pirates announced today that right-handed pitcher Max Kranick will make his major league debut in tomorrow’s 2:15 PM ET matinee at St. Louis. He will be the second active member of the Indianapolis Indians roster to make his debut in 2021, following outfielder Troy Stokes Jr.

Kranick, 23, made his Triple-A debut with Indianapolis on June 1 vs. Columbus and tossed five one-run innings with six strikeouts. He earned his first Triple-A win on June 12 at Nashville, where he allowed just one hit in five shutout innings and struck out a career-high tying nine batters. In four starts overall with the Indians, he went 1-2 with a 4.66 ERA (10er/19.1ip) and 20 strikeouts.

Rated as Pittsburgh’s No. 30 prospect by Baseball America and No. 28 by MLB Pipeline prior to the season, Kranick began 2021 with Double-A Altoona. There, he made three starts and went 1-0 with a 4.02 ERA (7er/15.2ip), 1.02 WHIP and 16 strikeouts. He was promoted to Indianapolis on May 31.

Kranick was selected by Pittsburgh in the 11th round of the 2016 First-Year Player Draft out of Valley View (Archbald, Pa.) High School. He had his contract first selected on Nov. 20, 2020.

Indianapolis’ first-time callups are presented by Franciscan Health