Erie’s James McCann Showing New-Found Prowess at the Plate

April 01, 2012; Port St Lucie, FL, USA; Detroit Tigers catcher James McCann (81) gets congratulations from first base coach Tom Brookens (61) after hitting a grand slam in the sixth inning of the spring training game against the New York Mets at Digital Domain Park. Mandatory Credit: Brad Barr-USA TODAY Sports

His defense will get him to the big leagues. That’s what the consensus was when the Detroit Tigers used a second-round pick on University of Arkansas catcher James McCann in the 2011. Early in his pro career, McCann’s glove work has lived up to advanced billing.

Unfortunately, his reputation as a hitter is that he is a great defensive catcher. At least until this year.

McCann is off to a flying start at Double-A Erie, posting a .338/.385/.422 line through 170 plate appearance and he’s been even better lately, putting up a .472/.537/.667 line over his last 10 games. A slow-footed catcher, McCann won’t be stretching too many singles into doubles, so his extra-bases are going to have to be earned. Despite good size at 6’2″ and 215 lbs, McCann doesn’t profile as a guy with much pop in his bat and the numbers have born that out. He has just four career home runs in over 630 professional plate appearances.

In 2012, McCann posted a combined line of .237/.278/.311 in 407 plate appearances. Those numbers came at High-A Lakeland and then 230 PA’s with Erie. He struggled mightily versus the more advanced competition, with a .509 OPS for the SeaWolves. Those numbers are a stark contrast to the success he’s had at the dish this season, with an OPS nearly 300 points higher at the same level.

So, are we seeing McCann develop into a better hitter, or is this merely a prolonged hot start? The answer is yes.

There is little question that McCann is making better contact this season, but there has been very little change in his overall approach at the plate. He’s never been a guy who strikes out a ton, but he has cut down those numbers this season, fanning in fewer than 15 percent of his trips to the plate. McCann’s ISO this season is .084, nearly identical to what he produced at Erie last year. The big difference this season is that McCann is enjoying a batting average on balls in play (BABIP) of .392, which is nearly 100 points higher than a typical league average BABIP and over 150 points better than the .240 BABIP he suffered through as a SeaWolf in 2012.

McCann doesn’t walk much, but has made improvements there as well this season, so there’s enough evidence to suggest that part of the success can be attributed to a more mature approach at the plate, which has resulted in making better and more consistent contact. When a hitter is able to do that, it’s natural that he’ll have better numbers and that translates to BABIP also.

It’s extremely unlikely that a guy without good speed will maintain an abnormally high BABIP over the long haul, but McCann’s improved approach should help him stay away from abnormally low numbers in that category going forward.

McCann won’t likely ever hit enough to be a regular at the big league level, but if he can hit enough to be a legitimate threat at the plate, he could carve out a good career as a backup. It will be interesting to see if he’s able to add power to his game. That’s typically the last tool to come, but it may be the difference between McCann spending his career as a fringe big leaguer or as a guy who can assure himself of a big league contract each year.