Quinton McCracken

Quinton Antoine McCracken (born August 16, 1970) is an American former professional baseball outfielder. He played all or parts of 12 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), and was the Tampa Bay Devil Rays franchise's first center fielder and batter on March 31, 1998.

Early life McCracken attended South Brunswick High School where he was a running back and free safety in football, a point guard in basketball, and also a baseball star and a track standout. As a senior in 1988, McCracken led his baseball team to a 29–0 record and the NCHSAA 2A State Championship. USA Today rated South Brunswick's baseball team the fifth-best in the nation that year.

Professional career After graduating from Duke University. McCracken was selected by the Colorado Rockies in their inaugural draft in 1992 in the 25th round. He made his major league debut as a September call-up on September 17, 1995. In three games, he struck out in his only at bat. In 1996, he played mostly center field, batting .290 in 283 at-bats. In 1997, he stole a career-high 28 bases and increased his batting average to .292.

McCracken was drafted by the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays on November 18, 1997, as their second pick in the 1997 MLB expansion draft, to be their starting center fielder for 1998. Playing in a career-high 155 games, McCracken had his best-ever season, batting .292 with 7 home runs, 59 RBI, and was named the Devil Rays first-ever most valuable player. After playing only 40 games in 1999, because of a torn ACL, He was not picked up by another team, and signed on to play with the independent Bridgeport Bluefish of the Atlantic League. After one season in independent ball, McCracken played for the Dominican Winter Baseball League in late 2007 and retired. and moved to the Houston Astros in 2012. McCracken joined the Miami Marlins staff as an outfield/baserunning coordinator in 2018. In January 2019, he joined the Durham Bulls as a third-base coach in a return to the city where he attended college. On March 19, 2024, McCracken was named manager of the Mahoning Valley Scrappers of the MLB Draft League. He returned to coach the Scrappers for the 2025 season. . In 2026, Quinton joined the San Francisco Giants organization as Coordinator of their Arizona League Training Complex.