Bio
J.D. McCracken was added to the X’s roster on May 4 during training camp in Sioux City. The left-hander spent his first season of college ball at the University of Tennessee then his final three seasons at Rice University in Houston, Texas.
His final season at Rice was in 2025 where the lefty led the Owls in wins with four and starts with 14. McCracken was a work horse of the Rice rotation, not missing a turn during conference play over the course of his three seasons with the team and covering 27 consecutive starts. He posted a 4-4 record with a 6.46 ERA in 16 games in 71 innings on the mound. McCracken struck out 36 while issuing 36 walks and giving up 51 earned runs on 74 hits. He finished the year with a 1.549 WHIP but had a 3.98 ERA at home during the 2025 season.
In 2024 McCracken set a career high in innings pitched with 77.1 and strikeouts with 65. He went 4-7 with a 5.35 in 16 games while making 15 starts. McCracken walked 52, surrendering 46 earned runs on 71 hits with a 1.591 WHIP. Once again the portsider had solid numbers in Houston, going 2-4 with a 4.64 ERA in eight starts while allowing just one homer in 42.2 innings. McCracken tossed the Owls’ first complete game in nearly five years on June 1at the University of Louisiana to clinch the Owls’ first-ever series win in Lafayette. He scattered six hits and walked only one while striking out a career-high 11.
McCracken transferred to Rice from the University of Tennessee for the 2023 season. He went 1-5 with a 5.65 ERA in 71.2 innings in 19 games while making 13 starts. McCracken fanned 58, yielding 45 runs on 62 hits and issuing 36 free passes. The lefty finished with a 1.367 WHIP in his first season with the Owls.
McCracken pitched in three games in 2022 for the University of Tennessee. He would pick up a relief win to go 1-0 and work just 3.1 innings on the season. McCracken struck out two and issued one walk in the limited sample size in his first season out of high school. In 2022 he played summer collegiate ball at Martha’s Vineyard in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, working in 25.1 innings with 31 strikeouts and posting a 4.26 ERA. McCracken played in the Costal Plain League in the summer of 2023 with the Wilson Tobs, going 2-0 with a 3.68 ERA in 14.2 innings.
McCracken was born in Nashville, Tennessee and grew up in Murfreesboro. He graduated from Middle Tennessee Christian High School where he was a Division II All-State selection and Tennessee’s Division II Mr. Baseball as a senior in 2021. McCracken posted a perfect 9-0 record with a 0.13 ERA and 103 strikeouts in 53.0 innings pitched and also hit .420 with five homers and 40 RBI during his final high school season. He set a single-game record of 16 and set season records for ERA (0.13), wins (9), shutouts (4), WHIP (0.60) and opponent batting average (.114). By the time his high school career was finished, he had set the record for the lowest career ERA (0.47) and career strikeouts (218). In 2020 McCracken participated in Perfect Game 2020 National Showcase and ranked as the No. 279 player overall and the 12th rated player in Tennessee by Perfect Game.