In New York sports, superstars are scrutinized. After one bad game, the fans of the New York Mets beg inexperienced and failed players to leave the team. Then there are people who are successful and have a pleasant past.
The 2025 Mets were a source of much grief. Early on, one of the performances showed promise.
Growing up in the Pocono region of Pennsylvania as a Mets fan, Max Kranick had a fiery start to the season. Before sustaining an elbow injury that ended his season, he achieved a 3.65 ERA despite coming back to earth a little. The Washington Nationals brought up Kranick during the All-Star Break, and he is returning.
The Nationals have the worst bullpen core of any National League team, with an ERA of 5.07. Although several in the American League have performed worse, their 27 botched saves in 54 opportunities put them at an ugly 50%.
In early May, Kranick signed a contract with the Nationals. His minor league action this year came from a rehab assignment that didn’t look very encouraging. A 5.40 ERA was achieved in just 11.2 innings of activity. It’s insignificant, unimportant, and insufficient to deter the Nationals from attempting to address one of their main problems.
The Nationals are marginal trade deadline bidders at 48-49. They can more clearly define their trade deadline status over the course of the next week since they are four games away from an NL Wild Card spot. They most likely get caught in the middle and sell a few pieces.
In the 2023–2024 offseason, Kranick joined the Mets as a Pittsburgh Pirates waiver claim. He was DFA’d early in the season, unclaimed, and transferred to the minor leagues, where he sat and waited until he was added to the NLWC roster, but he never played in a major – game.
On August 14, the Mets and Nationals will meet once more before the season’s last series. For the rest of the season, his time in D.C. is probably going to be an extended audition for them or other teams interested in seeing what he can do in major league games.
