Catcher James McCann signed a minor league deal with Atlanta and has spent most of the year playing for Triple-A Gwinnett. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the deal contains a rolling opt-out clause. Similar to Craig Kimbrel’s earlier deal with Atlanta, this means that any club can offer McCann a big league job at any time. If one does, Atlanta would have decide to call him up or let the other club have him.
“The big thing is that rolling opt-out,” McCann said to Rosenthal. “That was part of our agreement with the Braves, knowing their situation and knowing the potential of being blocked to the big leagues there. They respected the 10 years that I’ve accrued in service time and gave me the opportunity to opt out, similar to (Craig) Kimbrel.”
As McCann alluded to, he doesn’t have a great path to playing time in Atlanta. They have Sean Murphy and Drake Baldwin sharing the catching duties at the big league level this year. Murphy is having a nice bounceback season, all things considered. He was injured a lot in 2024 and struggled when in the lineup. This year, his 30.6% strikeout rate is a concern but he has nine home runs and a 10.2% walk rate. His .222/.325/.459 line translates to a 118 wRC+, with solid defense to boot. He’s also under contract for three more years after this one, guaranteed $15MM annually.
Baldwin is just a rookie but is having a great season. His 7.3% walk rate is a bit low but he has seven home runs and is only striking out at a 15.3% clip. His .291/.343/.488 line translates to a 132 wRC+. His defensive grades are also solid. The club also has Jason Delay on the 40-man roster as a depth guy with options remaining.
That makes the opt-out clause a sensible one for McCann, who has been doing his best to earn another major league opportunity. He has stepped to the plate 138 times for Gwinnett this year with a .281/.319/.484 line and 110 wRC+. He’s getting a bit of help from a .333 batting average on balls in play but has launched six homers already this year.
McCann has been an effective big leaguer at times but has struggled in more recent seasons. He hit .276/.334/.474 for a 114 wRC+ over 2019 and 2020. He also got some competent grades for his glovework in that time, allowing him to tally 3.4 wins above replacement in 149 games, per the calculations of FanGraphs.
That got him a four-year, $40.6MM deal with the Mets but he couldn’t maintain that level of production over the course of that contract. Traded to the Orioles halfway through, he hit .224/.279/.352 over the four seasons of that pact, leading to a 77 wRC+.
After that performance, he had to settle for a minor league deal. He has been performing well so far this year but it seems no club has been compelled to give him a major league job yet. He’ll have to keep plugging away and hope that some club finds a use for him at some point. It’s theoretically possible that could come in Atlanta. With the club falling back in the standing and Baldwin performing well, they might try to trade Murphy this summer. Or an injury could arise for one of those two, though that’s also possible of all the other catchers in the majors.
Photo courtesy of Isaiah J. Downing, Imagn Images
There’s going to be a great path to the big leagues for McCann when the Braves trade Sean Murphy.
100%
Oh, please 🙏🏻… I hope you’re right about trading Murph.
It makes sense to. They still have a solid core but this season doesn’t look like it’s going to pan out. They should retool. Trade Ozuna, trade Murphy, field offers for Sale. Could net some good prospects and get some salary relief to sign a few guys in the offseason. Follow the Mets blueprint from 2023 when they struggled.
I don’t know who would take on Murphy’s contract. $45 million after this season for a player on the wrong side of 30 with a recent history of being injured isn’t going to be very appealing. The usual suspects who would be comfortable shopping at that price range already have catchers.
vet catcher 3 years 45 million with club option for 4th. has power and good with pitchers. I could see teams wanting him he has power won’t hit for high average. Travis making 2 years 12 million at 36 and 37 so not really a bad deal for what you get. Braves could get a little more for him maybe throwing in some cash 10-15 million if they decide to move off him. I mean give a team 15 million that would cut the deal down to 3 years 30 million for any team trading for him. Ozuna in final year of deal more than likely won’t get as much just because he is a rental player. Sale does have team option so teams could want him and have some control with option. Not sure Braves will be sellers though.
TradeAcuna? Is that you?
I thought the same thing as well. But it’s not the craziest thought with the emergence of Baldwin. I doubt we extend Ozuna and could look to move him and Murphy this year. RE: Trading Sale, I don’t see the need for it. While there’s always the injury risk at his age, I’d roll the dice on him this and next year.
He’ll come up and have a pinch hit appearance drive in a couple runs, then he’ll be DFA’d like Kimbrel
I know a bunch of players on the Braves are having down years but a lot of the close losses are due to bad bullpen management. That has to be on Snitker. I know there is a lot of baseball left to play but this team is in a big hole now in the standings.
Mariners:
SP Logan Gilbert;
SP Bryce Miller,
SP George Kirby;
RP Matt Brash;
RP Gregory Santos;
1B/RF Luke Raley;
2B Ryan Bliss,
2B/3B Jorge Polanco,
RF Victor Robles
McCan turned down the Jesse Chavez contract to renegotiate the contract if dfa’d