Detroit Tigers: Can 2018 be James McCann’s breakout year?

Detroit Tigers catcher James McCann is getting ready to enter his fourth full season already. Could 2018 be the year that he breaks out at the plate?

In September of 2014, catcher James McCann made his MLB debut for the Detroit Tigers after putting the finishing touches on a solid minor league career. The following year, he made the Tigers’ Opening Day roster and eventually took over the starting job from incumbent catcher Alex Avila.

During his rookie season, McCann batted a very respectable .264/.297/.387 (88 OPS+) with seven homers and 41 RBI. He was very impressive behind the plate, posting a 41 percent caught stealing percentage.

In 2016, McCann’s numbers at the plate took a bit of a dip. Although he set new career highs in home runs (12) and RBI (48), he slashed only .221/.272/.358 (69 OPS+). Still, he was very impressive on defense yet again, this time throwing out 45 percent of would-be base-stealers.

Early on last season, McCann looked as though he was ready to take his offense to the next level. He hit five home runs in April, three of which came during the first seven games of the season. However, although he was hitting for power, McCann was struggling to hit for average and get on base. He eventually began losing playing time to Avila, who had returned for a second tour of duty with the Detroit Tigers before being traded to the Chicago Cubs mid-season.

During the second half of last season, it is worthwhile to note that McCann rebounded to bat a very solid .291/.345/.414. Overall last year, he hit .253/.318/.415 (92 OPS+) with 13 home runs and 49 RBI. Although he “only” threw out 30 percent of would-be base-stealers last year, his caught stealing percentage was still better than the league average mark of 27 percent.

Competition on the way?

Going into next season, McCann shouldn’t have to be too concerned about looking over his shoulder to see if someone might be coming for his playing time. There are currently two other catchers on the Tigers’ 40-man roster besides McCann. One of them is John Hicks, who appears a likely candidate to be McCann’s backup for next season. The other is prospect Grayson Greiner who hit a combined .237/.320/.427 with 14 homers in Double-A and Triple-A last year. Greiner is likely ticketed to begin 2018 in Triple-A as well.

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The Tigers have also signed Derek Norris and former Tiger Brayan Pena to minor league deals as well. Norris and Pena are expected to compete with Hicks for the backup catching job or perhaps provide additional depth at Triple-A.

Of course, down the road, it is perhaps possible that someone like Jake Rogers, who the Tigers acquired from the Houston Astros in the Justin Verlander deal, could supplant McCann as the catcher of the future. However, Rogers has yet to play above High-A ball and is likely at least a little ways away from the majors.

Clearly, McCann should have a great opportunity to continue adding to his resume this coming season. One thing he has always struggled with, however, is hitting against right-handed pitching. He has batted only .230/.274/.322 against RHP throughout his career, so that is undoubtedly an element of his game that he still needs to work on.

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It is tough to know exactly how high McCann’s ceiling is, but it is certainly possible that he could be a 270-ish hitter and continue developing more power for the Detroit Tigers. It should be fun to see what the 2018 season might hold for the 27-year-old James McCann.