McCann using offseason to work on career longevity

With each passing year, the cry grows a little louder from a certain contingent of Braves fans: Why can’t Brian McCann move from catcher to first base and play every day?

It just makes McCann want to work that much harder to stay behind the plate.

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AP

Brian McCann has dropped few pounds as part of his offseason training program.

• Photos: McCann shows hitting

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“I want to be a catcher,” said McCann, who became only the seventh catcher in history to make the All-Star team each of his first three full seasons. “I want to play my whole career behind the plate. I don’t even want to consider playing first base. I’d like to play every day, but at the same time, it’s just something that comes with the position.”

So each offseason he’s re-thought his workout regimen to gear it toward longevity and keeping his body strong all season.

Last season he worked out with heavier weights, which he is set to begin again this week. But in the four weeks following the season, when he normally rests his body, he’s also gotten lighter.

McCann showed up for the grand opening of his father’s new Windward Baseball Academy facility in Alpharetta on Saturday slim and trim.

“I’m trying to be more athletic,” McCann said.

McCann has added jogging to the workout routine. He’s taken to the streets around his new Suwanee neighborhood in recent weeks. Don’t believe us? Ask his brother Brad McCann, who has been his workout partner and now accountability-on-the-diet partner.

“We’ve been eating healthy for four weeks now, both of us,” said Brad McCann, who played in both the Marlins and Royals organizations and is now coaching with his father Howie McCann. “We’ve both lost about 15 pounds. No more cheeseburgers. It’s a lot of grilled chicken, vegetables and fruit.”

The hardest thing for McCann, his brother said, was to give up his Mexican food habit — burritos and cheese dip. But after the first week it got easier. And they’re allowed one “cheat meal” a week, which they use Sunday nights watching NFL games.

The goal, Brad said, was to drop some weight so McCann could keep pressure off his knees, which already take a beating.

McCann, who turns 25 in February, played in a career-high 145 games last year, which tied him for the fifth most for a catcher in the majors last year. His 573 plate appearances were a career-high as well, and fifth among all major league catchers.

He played 138 games in which he either started behind the plate or stayed in the game at catcher after a pinch-hit at-bat, and that is also a career-best.

McCann said it was the first time in three years he didn’t miss extended time with an injury — he suffered finger and ankle injuries in seasons prior — just the seven games he missed with a concussion after his collision with the Phillies’ Shane Victorino.

He hit .301 last season, which was second among all major league catchers. He lead the Braves in both home runs (23) and RBIs (87), which is why the outcry for having his bat in the lineup more often. But McCann loves the challenge of catching, and it’s something he plans to spend more time on this winter.

Specifically, he wants to improve his throws to second base after throwing out only 22.6 percent of baserunners last year. He said it starts with footwork.

“It’s something that during a game I have a hard time with,” McCann said. “I want to be too quick and it hurts me more than helps me.”

It’s McCann family tradition to start hitting on Christmas Day, with father Howie, a hitter instructor, and his two sons. Soon thereafter McCann will start throwing too.

“I want to put as much into my defense as I do my offense,” McCann said. “I usually hit a lot more than I catch (in the offseason). The older that I’m getting the more I realize that’s just as big a part as hitting.”

He’ll be back at the new Windward Baseball Academy for throwing too. Among the improvements at the new facility other than air-conditioning and better lighting are retractable nets on the batting cages. Now he can make 120-foot throws indoors.