For opening day, local pros will be a Curve, a River Cat and a -- Sod Poodle?
May 3—Valley View grad Max Kranick throws a curve, and now he is a Curve.
Scranton native Joe McCarthy returns to the reigning champion River Cats and his brother Jake is a — Sod Poodle?
With rosters being finalized for the upcoming minor league baseball season, the three former Lackawanna Leaguers know where they'll start the 2021 campaign. Kranick and Jake McCarthy will take on Double-A for the first time, while Joe McCarthy is in Triple-A.
Kranick, 23, will pitch for the Altoona Curve, the Pittsburgh Pirates' affiliate in the Double-A Northeast (the new name for the Eastern League). The right-hander was invited to both versions of Pittsburgh's alternate site and was added to its 40-man roster over the offseason. He spent 2019 in High A, where he had a 3.79 ERA in 20 starts. MLB.com rates him at No. 28 on its list of top Pirates prospects.
Altoona, which is about a three-hour drive from Scranton, opens at home May 4 against Bowie, then plays its second series of the season at nearby Binghamton, New York, from May 11-16.
Jake McCarthy, 23, will man the outfield for the Amarillo Sod Poodles, the Arizona Diamondbacks' affiliate in the Double-A Central. He spent 2019 in High A, where he batted .277 with a .341 on-base percentage and a .405 slugging percentage in 53 games. He also swiped 18 stolen bases and was caught just twice. He comes in at No. 30 on MLB.com's list of top D'backs prospects.
According to the team, a Sod Poodle is another name for a prairie dog. They play in a stadium in Amarillo, Texas, that opened in 2019 and a team re-branding came with it. The Sod Poodles start the season May 4 on the road at Tulsa.
Joe McCarthy, 27, begins his third season at Triple-A with the Sacramento River Cats, top affiliate for the San Francisco Giants. He made his MLB debut in 2020 and played in four games with the Giants before being sent back to their alternate site. He joined Sacramento at the trade deadline in 2019 and helped lead them to the Triple-A National Championship, batting .290 with three doubles and one home run in nine postseason games. In 112 games between his time at Sacramento and Durham, the Tampa Bay Rays' top affiliate, McCarthy has a career .744 OPS at Triple-A.
Sacramento opens its season May 6 at Las Vegas.
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