The Athletics have sent catcher Kyle McCann and right-hander Anthony Maldonado outright to Triple-A, according to each player’s transaction log at MLB.com. That indicates both players cleared waivers after being designated for assignment last week. Both will stay with the organization as non-roster depth and could be in big league camp as non-roster invitees.
McCann, 27, made his major league debut last year. He has generally been a high-power, high-strikeout guy in his minor league career and he carried that up to the big leagues. In his 157 plate appearances, he struck out 59 times, a huge 37.9% rate. But he also popped five home runs and walked at a solid 10.2% clip, allowing him to post a .236/.318/.371 slash line and 102 wRC+. Defensively, each of FanGraphs, Baseball Prospectus and Statcast graded him as a subpar framer.
Those offensive numbers hewed fairly close to his minor league numbers, as he slashed .251/.344/.458 for a 99 wRC+ over 2022 and 2023. He struck out 32.9% of the time but drew walks in 11.1% of his plate appearances and hit 38 homers in 846 trips to the plate.
The A’s have Shea Langeliers as their primary catcher and acquired Jhonny Pereda to serve as the backup, nudging McCann off the roster. That gave other clubs a chance to grab McCann but none of them took that chance. Since McCann has less than three years of service time and this is his first career outright, he doesn’t have the right to elect free agency.
The A’s only have the two backstops on their 40-man in Langeliers and Pereda, so they’re surely glad to keep McCann around as depth without needing to use a roster spot for now. He could be the first one up if either of the two rostered backstops suffers an injury.
Maldonado, 27, was just claimed by the A’s in November. He made his major league debut with the Marlins last year, allowing 12 earned runs in 19 innings with a tepid 13.4% strikeout rate. The minor league track record is larger and more impressive. Over the past four years, he tossed 188 innings on the farm with a 3.26 earned run average, 32.4% strikeout rate and 9% walk rate.
Like McCann, this is his first career outright and he has less than three years of major league service time. That means he’ll have to accept this outright assignment, giving the A’s a depth arm for their bullpen without taking up a spot on the roster.
Not sure why Kyle McCann was DFAd in the first place. Glad he is still with the organization.
Because Daniel Susac is about to surpass him on the depth chart..
That is true. Damn this A’s farm system is suddenly looking great.
I owildnt say heat but improved. I’m spite of those terrible rebuild trades. But maybe they’ll see some pitchers Cusick, Ginn, Hoglund finally contribute and get some mlb opportunity
I’m starting to think that roughly 40% of catchers have the last name McCann.
And somehow none of them are (directly) related.
I wonder if they will give Soderstrom any innings at catcher or even some time to get lost in left field in the spring. I fully expect to see Kurtz in left from time to time.
Yeah probably Sody, langeliers, and Pereda as the three catchers. Sody and Brown platoon at 1B. Although, not guaranteed Pereda will work out and could be sent to the minors.
People keep asking Why McCann ? Why not but the real reason is Jhonny Pereda is a better catcher gets on base and most importantly he’s fluent in Spanish plus speaks English. A’s had no catchers that speak Spanish. A’s top pitcher Severino and Bido are mainly Spanish speakers.
That’s very true, there are some things like that, that stats can’t tell you. The relationship between pitcher and catcher is very important.
Why are guys named McCann, always catchers ? You got James, got Brian, and Kyle. Is it because Irish guys are slow so they stick them behind the plate?
McCann’t be true.
O’Buttit McCann be true (leprechauns excluded their fast little buggers)
*they’re (Siri is a ______!)