James McCann

32-Year-Old CatcherC

Baltimore Orioles

2023 Stats

AVG

.181

RBI

Rest-of-Season Projections

AVG

RBI

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2023 Fantasy Outlook

McCann is now two years into a four-year deal with the Mets which has not gone as well as anyone had hoped, which led him to be traded to the Orioles while the Mets signed Omar Narvaez. McCann has been significantly below league average offensively in both seasons and missed chunks of time in 2022 with a broken wrist as well as an oblique injury. He has done a good job behind the plate receiving the talented casts of pitchers on the roster, but his throwing skills would be a poor pairing for a starter who struggles to control the running game as he is not much help. The 2019 power numbers are the outlier, as is the case for many players, but McCann still has the thump to hit double-digit homers, though he's unlikely to see enough playing time for it to matter with Adley Rutschman set to work as Baltimore's No. 1 backstop. However, the Orioles do plan to utilize McCann some at first base and designated hitter. Read Past Outlooks

RANKSFrom Preseason

#591

ADP

Overall

League Majors

Bats R

Throws R

40 Man Yes

Height 6'3"

Weight 220

DOB 6/13/1990

Born Santa Barbara, CA

College Arkansas

Drafted 2nd Rd 2011 DET

Picks up first steal

CBaltimore Orioles

May 5, 2023

McCann went 0-for-3 with a walk, a hit-by-pitch, a stolen base and a run scored in Thursday's 13-10 win over the Royals.

ANALYSIS
Following the trade that sent Luis Torrens to the Orioles, it appears more possible for McCann and Adley Rutschman to co-exist in the lineup between catcher and designated hitter. McCann has been in the lineup in four of the last six games, twice as the DH and twice as the catcher. He's slashing .225/.262/.400 with two home runs, one steal, five RBI, six runs scored and a double over 42 plate appearances this season.

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Batting Stats

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2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

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2022 MLB Game Log

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2021 MLB Game Log

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Batting Order Slot Breakdown

vs Right-Handed Pitchers

vs RHP

vs Left-Handed Pitchers

vs LHP

Left/Right Batting Splits

Since 2021

+6%

OPS vs RHP

2023

Even Split

2022

+105%

OPS vs RHP

2021

+24%

OPS vs LHP

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2021vs Left	.577	248	16	7	29	2	.190	.254	.323
Since 2021vs Right	.613	430	39	8	40	3	.230	.286	.327
2023vs Left	.517	49	5	2	5	0	.167	.184	.333
2023vs Right	.519	26	2	0	0	1	.208	.269	.250
2022vs Left	.324	71	5	1	5	1	.092	.155	.169
2022vs Right	.665	120	14	2	13	2	.257	.317	.349
2021vs Left	.743	128	6	4	19	1	.257	.336	.407
2021vs Right	.599	284	23	6	27	0	.221	.275	.324
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Home/Away Batting Splits

Since 2021

+9%

OPS on Road

2023

+35%

OPS on Road

2022

+1%

OPS at Home

2021

+9%

OPS on Road

	OPS	PA	R	HR	RBI	SB	AVG	OBP	SLG
Since 2021Home	.573	346	24	7	34	2	.203	.263	.310
Since 2021Away	.627	332	31	8	35	3	.230	.286	.341
2023Home	.440	37	1	1	3	0	.139	.162	.278
2023Away	.596	38	6	1	2	1	.222	.263	.333
2022Home	.542	104	8	2	11	2	.198	.250	.292
2022Away	.534	87	11	1	7	1	.192	.264	.269
2021Home	.614	205	15	4	20	0	.217	.288	.326
2021Away	.671	207	14	6	26	1	.246	.300	.372
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Stat Review

How does James McCann compare to other hitters?

This section compares his stats with all batting seasons from the previous three seasons (minimum 400 plate appearances)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.

* Exit Velocity and Barrels/PA % are benchmarked against 2019 data (min 400 PA) and Hard Hit Rate is benchmarked against last season's data (min 400 PA). See here for more exit velocity/barrels stats plus an explanation of current limitations with that data set.

BB/K
Walk to strikeout ratio
BB Rate
The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a walk.
K Rate
The percentage of plate appearances resulting in a strikeout.
BABIP
Batting average on balls in play. Measures how many of a batter’s balls in play go for hits.
ISO
Isolated Power. Slugging percentage minus batting average. A computation used to measure a batter's raw power.
AVG
Batting average. Hits divided by at bats.
OBP
On Base Percentage. A measure of how often a batters reaches base. Roughly equal to number of times on base divided by plate appearances.
SLG
Slugging Percentage. A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. It is calculated as total bases divided by at bats.
OPS
On base plus slugging. THe sum of a batter's on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
wOBA
Weighted on-base average. Measures a player's overall offensive contributions per plate appearance. wOBA combines all the different aspects of hitting into one metric, weighting each of them in proportion to their actual run value.
Exit Velocity
The speed of the baseball as it comes off the bat, immediately after a batter makes contact.
Hard Hit Rate
A measure of contact quality from Sports Info Solutions. This stat explains what percentage of batted balls were hit hard vs. medium or soft.
Barrels/PA
The percentage of plate appearances where a batter had a batted ball classified as a Barrel. A Barrel is a batted ball with similar exit velocity and launch angle to past ones that led to a minimum .500 batting average and 1.500 slugging percentage.
Expected BA
Expected Batting Average.
Expected SLG
Expected Slugging Percentage.
Sprint Speed
The speed of a runner from home to first, in feet per second.
Ground Ball %
The percentage of balls put in play that are on the ground.
Line Drive %
The percentage of balls put in play that are line drives.
Fly Ball %
The percentage of balls put in play that are fly balls.

BB/K

0.17

BB Rate

2.7%

K Rate

16.0%

BABIP

.190

ISO

.125

AVG

.181

OBP

.213

SLG

.306

OPS

.519

wOBA

.230

Exit Velocity

90.4 mph

Hard Hit Rate

31.7%

Barrels/PA

4.0%

Expected BA

.271

Expected SLG

.469

Sprint Speed

22.8 ft/sec

Ground Ball %

43.3%

Line Drive %

16.7%

Fly Ball %

40.0%

Advanced Batting Stats

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Additional Stats

Games By Position

Defensive Stats

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Batted Ball Stats

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Stats Vs Upcoming Pitchers

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Past Fantasy Outlooks

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2012

Year 1 in Queens was a disaster for McCann, who ranked in the bottom 16% of the league in xBA, xwOBA, xSLG, K% and chase rate, per Statcast. He made up for those offensive struggles to an extent with his defense, though McCann's framing numbers also left something to be desired. With eight MLB seasons in the books now, McCann sits with a cumulative 4.1 fWAR over 722 career games. It can be argued that he's miscast as a No. 1 catcher, and with the Mets spending and pushing to be among the game's elite teams, there's a chance McCann will be relegated to backup duty at some point this season. That will almost certainly happen before the end of his contract. McCann is a career .273/.341/.478 hitter against left-handed pitching and just a .236/.282/.351 career hitter without the platoon edge. In weekly lineup leagues, he's a low-end second catcher. If you can play the matchups on a daily basis, McCann's value gets a slight boost.

After appearing in at least 65% of the team's games the prior four seasons, McCann split time behind the plate with Yasmani Grandal. Despite less frequent action, McCann posted a career-best 144 wRC+, fourth best among catchers with at least 100 PA. The impetus was new personal bests in average exit velocity and hard-hit rate, though it would have been helpful to see if McCann were able to maintain those levels over a 162-game season. McCann parlayed his 2020 success into a four-year, $40 million contract with the Mets. On paper, his power will suffer, but he'll again be a bell cow with playing time among the league leaders at the position, especially if he can maintain improvements in framing, going from 12th percentile in 2019 to 88th last season. McCann should be rostered in all one-catcher leagues and is a target for those willing to spend in two-catcher formats.

The Tigers non-tendered McCann, paving the way for the White Sox to sign him to pair with Welington Castillo. An early-season timeshare turned into bell cow duty for McCann as he outproduced Castillo in April and May, then Castillo battled assorted injuries the rest of the season. On May 12, McCann was slashing .382/.421/.607 with a 23% strikeout rate. The rest of the way, his line was .246/.305/.423 wile fanning 30% of the time, almost exactly what was projected for the 2019 season. His hot start can't be ignored, but it's likely an outlier. For the season, McCann's average exit velocity increased so it's fair to raise his baseline accordingly. The White Sox signed Yasmani Grandal, a superior hitter and backstop, but the club still plans to find action for McCann. He's unlikely to match last season's playing time or production, but remains in play in two-catcher formats.

McCann was a power sleeper at a shallow position coming into 2018, but the power remained comatose and never woke up. He had a horrendous season at the plate after showing three years of steady power improvement from 2015 through 2017. The non-power part of his game is rather non-existent, as he hits for the type of low average you would expect from a slow-footed catcher. He is best utilized in a platoon where he can face lefty pitchers (.231/.275/.322 against RHP for his career). The Tigers declined to tender McCann an offer for arbitration and he ultimately landed with the White Sox on a one-year contract. Assuming his exposure is limited and he can just feast on lefties, McCann will at least have some appeal as an injury replacement in two-catcher formats.

McCann was a below-average major-league hitter last season, but he wasn't bad at all compared to his contemporaries at the catcher position. He lifted 13 home runs in 391 plate appearances, lending hope to the idea that he could get to 20 homers with a full season of regular playing time. McCann's 6.6 walk percentage leaves something to be desired, but he trimmed his strikeout rate from 2016 by nearly six percentage points to 22.8 percent and showed improvement against right-handed pitching (.234/.296/.355, up from .200/.236/.219 in 2016). The pitch-framing statistics are not kind to McCann, but he has a great arm and grades out well on defense. He should be the primary catcher on Opening Day, and he could hit as high as fifth or sixth in the Tigers' batting order.

2016 was a bit of a disappointment for McCann, who faced high expectations following a 2015 season where he hit .264 in 114 games with 18 doubles, seven home runs and 41 RBI for the Tigers. This past season, the 26-year-old slashed .221/.274/.358 with 12 home runs and 48 RBI. The home run increase was a positive, but it came at a cost, as his strikeout rate increased from 21.2 percent to 29.2 percent. McCann, who grades well as a defensive catcher by most criteria, threw out 45 percent of potential basestealers, up from 41 percent in 2015. Barring a free agent acquisition, he figures to enter 2017 as the Tigers' starting catcher, where he'll hope to add to his power increase with a rebound in average and contact rate.

McCann won the 2015 Tigers' Rookie of the Year Award from the Detroit Sports Broadcasters Association on the back of an outstanding season behind the dish. He caught 112 error-free games to lead all MLB catchers and became only the sixth catcher on record to be error-free in over 100 games. On top of the flawless glove-work, he threw out 40.6 percent of American League base stealers. But McCann is more than just a defensive specialist -- he hit .264 with 18 doubles, five triples, seven home runs and 41 RBI with the Tigers last year. His leadership is off the charts, especially for a guy entering just his second season. McCann's power stroke will continue to grow and double-digit home runs will arrive sooner rather than later.

After showing growth at the Triple-A level last season, McCann was rewarded with a September promotion. The 2011 second-round pick made nine appearances for the Tigers in September, hitting .250 with one double and two runs scored in 12 at-bats. Despite the improvements at the dish at Triple-A, McCann’s calling card remains his solid defensive play. He has thrown out 39 percent of base stealers in his first three full seasons in the minors while doing a quality job running a pitching staff. Detroit has opted to bring back Alex Avila as their lead backstop, but McCann is expected to get the opportunity to challenge Bryan Holaday for the backup gig in 2015. Given Holaday’s lack or production at the plate the past two seasons, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see McCann work his way into the backstop mix for the Tigers this season, and his role could expand quickly if Avila continues to deal with minor injuries and long droughts at the dish.

The Tigers selected McCann with the 76th pick of the 2011 MLB Entry Draft. He profiles as a solid defensive player behind the plate, but he needs to improve at the plate before cracking any fantasy radars. The 21-year-old backstop hit just .146/.222/.250 in his first season of pro ball.

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