Quinton McCracken manages in MLB Draft League

Quinton McCracken has longed to become a major league manager. He spent 12 years in the majors with six different franchises. He’s had a second career as a front office executive. Now the Wilmington, N.C., native is back managing the Mahoning Valley Scrappers of the MLB Draft League for the second year in a row.

As director of player development early in former Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow’s tenure, McCracken helped develop many of the stars who helped the Astros become the dominant force in the American League. Quinton McCracken proved long ago that he knows how to develop players and how to reach the majors.

The MLB Draft League is a six-team baseball league filled with draft-eligible amateur players. The young prospects hope to improve their draft stock by participating in this league. They also spent part of the summer learning from former major leaguers such as McCracken to aid their development. 

McCracken, 54, can relate to the players in this league. He wasn’t drafted out of Duke University, where he starred in football and baseball, until he was a senior. Even then, he was selected in the 25th round of the 1992 draft by the Colorado Rockies in their inaugural draft. 

Maximizing strengths 

The 5-foot-7 outfielder had to work hard to make it to the big leagues. As a multi-sport athlete, McCracken was athletic enough to play the outfield. He could also hit for contact. What allowed him to make it to the big leagues three years later was his ability to work on his strengths.

Now as a manager, McCracken is helping his young team maximize their strengths. He instructs his players to understand their skill set. Whether they are a speed guy with minimal power or a power guy with minimal speed, he tries to help them understand they play important roles. 

“All of them have the skills to play at the highest level,” McCracken says. “It’s those who put in the work, take the time to commit to their craft, and be the best version of themselves who are the ones that usually have success in this game.”

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The 12-year-veteran switch hitter is hopeful his entire team will get drafted and eventually make it to the major league. The biggest challenge for McCracken is realizing that may not be realistic. As he helps develop his team into potential major leaguers by enhancing baseball skills, he also aims to train them to be a better version of themselves. 

Building champions

He urges his team to be model citizens on and off the field. McCracken teaches discipline, structure, and resilience. He’s adamant these skills will guide players in any career path, either as a baseball player or in a civilian job. 

“We try to develop championship citizens on and off the field,” McCracken says. “You don’t have to be sent to the big leagues to be a big-league person.”

A few years after his major league career concluded, McCracken was hired as assistant director of player development for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2010. He spent two years in that role before he was hired by the Houston Astros as the director of player development.

McCracken was promoted to the Astros’ director of player personnel in 2016. He had that role through the 2017 season, when the Astros won the franchise’s first World Series title.

Under his leadership, the Astros were named the best farm system in baseball in 2015. Carlos Correa, Alex Bregman, George Springer and Lance McCullers Jr. were a few All-Stars developed under his leadership. Teoscar Hernandez, Kike Hernandez and Joe Musgrove also were developed when he was in charge.

Big-league aspirations

He returned to the diamond as a baseball running and outfield coordinator for the Miami Marlins in 2018. A year later, he was coaching third base for the Durham Bulls. Then from 2020-2023, McCracken served as David Stearns’ special assistant for player development/baseball operations with the Brewers.

He has spent the last two summers managing in the MLB Draft League. McCracken yearns to manage in the majors. The former Duke star is also opening to coaching at the collegiate level.

His alma mater Duke recently hired a new baseball head coach. While that surely would have been a dream job for him, he is open to fill any other head coaching vacancies. 

“My goal is to be a head coach or a manager in the big leagues,” he said. “That is one thing with my resume and the things that I’ve done for the past 30 years in the game that led me to the point where I want to share my experience for the greater good.”