Cardinal Forever Kyle McGrath Called Up To Padres

San Diego Padres pitcher Kyle McGrath. (Photo by K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune) (K.C. Alfred / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Louisville native and former UofL reliever received the call he had been dreaming of on Wednesday, he was heading to San Diego to pitch for the Padres. Kyle’s dad James McGrath was gracious enough to give Cardinal Sports Zone a look into what that moment felt like for them all.

“Kyle hung up the phone he just hugged us all and said “”I’m going to San Diego””, and we screamed probably waking his neighbors. To say the least, really shocked was the feeling. We all deep down knew it was possible, he had been throwing really well lately in Aa ball. We all never went to bed, his mother and I showered packed and flew to San Diego that same morning, Kyle and Jess came in a bit later. Still a bit in shock but finally got to sleep after 40 hours, probably the coolest experience of his pro career for sure, for him and us, many happy tears. All our phones have been blown up the last 36 hrs with well wishers, his hard work has paid off.” Luckily both of Kyle’s parents were there in San Antonio with him and were able to share in this moment together. “We had just driven back from road trip 2 hours away in corpus Christie with his fiance Jessica Thompson,  and had just gone to bed at 2:30 am when the call came to come back to field and get his equipment he had a 8:30 am flight to San Diego. It is just incredible.” James recalled about how quickly everything moved from there. Kyle McGrath is hoping to throw tonight in the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, first pitch is 10:10 EST.

Congrats to @kylemcgrath35 on his call-up to the @Padres! #L1C4 #ProCards https://t.co/WN6Qogw5lr

— Louisville Baseball (@UofLBaseball) July 28, 2017