Former Rox Pitcher McRae Called Up to MLB
St. Cloud, MN – Former St. Cloud Rox pitcher Alex McRae has gotten the call up to Major League Baseball.
The Pittsburgh Pirates officially announced Saturday that they have called up McRae, a right-handed pitcher that played in St. Cloud during the 2013 Northwoods League season.
ROSTER MOVE: The Pirates have reinstated Michael Feliz from the 10-Day DL and selected RHP Alex McRae from AAA Indy.
Dovydas Neverauskas and Josh Smoker have been optioned to Indy.McRae has been added to the 40-man roster and will wear No. 51.
— Pirates (@Pirates) July 7, 2018
McRae is the second former Rox player to get called up to the major leagues this season, joining Ben Meyer. He is also the 26th former St. Cloud player to play in the MLB, which is the most among Northwoods League franchises.
McRae appeared in 17 games for the Indianapolis Indians at the Triple A level this season, starting in 16 of those games. In 84 innings of work, he gave up 46 runs and struck out 80 batters to hold an ERA of 4.61.
The 25-year-old played in 14 games for the Rox during the summer of 2013, where he held a record of 2-2 with one save. McRae finished with 29 strikeouts in 39.2 innings. The Jacksonville University alum from New Berlin, Wisconsin was drafted by Pittsburgh in the 10th round of the 2014 MLB Draft.
Adam Maxon (2017 Rox pitching coach) & Alex McRae, who were Rox teammates in 2013 before McRae's first MLB game today pic.twitter.com/QsiWdqnVmb
— St. Cloud Rox (@StCloudRox) July 7, 2018
The Rox are in their seventh season of Northwoods League Baseball in 2018. Single game and group tickets for the entire season are on sale now. For more information on purchasing tickets, visit the Rox Ticket Office on the west end of the Municipal Athletic Complex, call 320-240-9798 or visit www.stcloudrox.com.
The St. Cloud Rox are a member of the finest developmental league for elite college baseball players, the Northwoods League. Now in its 25th anniversary season, the Northwoods League is the largest organized baseball league in the world with 20 teams, drawing significantly more fans, in a friendly ballpark experience, than any league of its kind. A valuable training ground for coaches, umpires and front office staff, more than 190 former Northwoods League players have advanced to Major League Baseball, including three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer (WAS), two-time World Series Champions Ben Zobrist (CHC) and Brandon Crawford (SFG) and MLB All-Stars Chris Sale (BOS), Jordan Zimmermann (DET) and Curtis Granderson (TOR). All league games are viewable live via the Northwoods League portal. For more information, visit www.stcloudrox.com or download the new Northwoods League Mobile App on the Apple App Store or on Google Play and set the Rox as your favorite team.
