Orioles Reinstate James McCann From 10-Day Injured List

James McCann is set to make his Orioles debut, as the catcher has been reinstated from the 10-day injured list.  The O’s announced that outfielder Kyle Stowers was optioned to Triple-A in the corresponding move.

McCann suffered an oblique strain fairly late in Spring Training, as he played his last Grapefruit League game on March 20.  Beginning just as soreness in his left side, the issue was announced as a strain when McCann was placed on the 10-day IL just prior to Opening Day.  Fortunately for McCann and the Orioles, the injury appears to have been pretty minor in nature, as opposed to a more lingering oblique problem — McCann suffered such an injury himself just last season that kept him out of action for almost a full month of the 2022 campaign.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of McCann’s activation is the player going the other way.  Stowers hasn’t seen much playing time in the early going, starting only one of the Orioles’ eight games and making six plate appearances over three total games.  While a move to Triple-A seems logical to get Stowers more regular at-bats, Baltimore now has something of a short bench, and three catchers on their active roster.

Adley Rutschman will naturally continue to get the bulk of time behind the plate, with McCann and Anthony Bemboom are splitting backup duties for now.  The DH spot is available to give Rutschman a partial rest day while maintaining his everyday spot in the lineup, and McCann has some past experience as a first baseman if the O’s want to get a little creative.  Also, Bemboom is out of minor league options and can’t be sent to Triple-A without first being designated for assignment, so the Orioles might not yet want to expose him to the waiver wire.  Dan Connolly of The Athletic believes that the Orioles’ decision could be related to a string of left-handed starters coming up on the schedule, since Bemboom can act in a more regular backup catcher role while both Rutschman and the right-handed hitting McCann are in the starting lineup.

The Orioles acquired McCann in a trade with the Mets in December, with Baltimore responsible for just $5MM of the $24MM owed to the veteran catcher over the 2023-24 seasons.  McCann signed a four-year, $40.6MM free agent deal with New York during the 2020-21 offseason, but struggled to only a .220/.282/.328 slash line over 603 PA and 182 games over the first two years of that contract.  Injuries played a particular role in McCann’s underwhelming 2022 season, as beyond his oblique problem, he also missed time due to hamate bone surgery.