Player Preview: Brian McCann

Hey folks! It's was a pretty hectic weekend trying to update this website, hopefully we'll see a newly revamped aBn website shortly. 

Now for the blog de jour. For this edition of aBn player preview we will look at All-Star catcher Brian McCann. McCann ranked 12th in the N.L. last year in batting average, and 1st among catchers in the N.L.  Compared to other catchers around M.L.B., B-Mac tied for first with Cubbie Geovany Soto with 23 HR's, 2nd in RBI's behind Bengie Molina, and 1st in OPS and SLG %. WOW! these ecstatic numbers come in just McCann's third full year in the league. 

McCann is arguably the best offensive catcher in the league but his defense is worry-some. Last year McCann allowed 70 SB's while only throwing-out 21.3% of his runners. Defense is definitely an area that B-Mac could improve on and he has made a serious attempt to strengthen his defensive game this off-season. 

While B-Mac has tried to take his defensive game to the next flight, the Braves signed 7-year veteran David Ross. Ross will serve as a backup but he is regarded as one of the better defensive catchers in the game. Ross has thrown out 38.2% runners that have tried to steal on him during his career. McCann, who has never had a strong-defensive catching mentor backing him up will probably pick up a few pointers along the way from David Ross. Todd Pratt who served as the Braves backup catcher during the 2006 season was statistically a terrible catcher and was mainly signed to add a veteran presence to a young Braves team at the time. 

With that said, I expect McCann to post similar numbers to '08 if not better. With a healthy Chipper Jones and revamped Jeff Francoeur hitting in front of McCann, B-Mac has a shot to rack in 100 RBI's and 20 HR's while maintaining a .290-.300 BA. 

Anyways what type of numbers do ya'll expect from Brian McCann this season?