Soon, maybe as early as Monday, catcher Brian McCann will complete his return from October shoulder surgery and re-join the Braves.
McCann said he’ll come back with a different perspective after his rehabilitation program took him through extended spring training and the minor leagues.
“It brought back a lot of memories from going through the system,” McCann said Monday at Turner Field, where he caught right-hander Brandon Beachy’s live batting practice session. “I saw a lot of the coaches that coached me coming up through the system. It hit me how hard it is to get where we are at. I’m taking a positive out of all of this.”
McCann’s journey back to the Braves lineup isn’t quite over. He’s scheduled to catch for Class-A Rome Wednesday before playing with Triple-A Gwinnett Thursday though Sunday.
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said the team would evaluate McCann Sunday but that he’s open to McCann joining the Braves in Cincinnati Monday for the start of a 10-game trip.
As far as McCann is concerned, he will be ready to go.
“The way I feel, six months out, I feel really happy about it,” McCann said. “The way I am throwing is basically the same before I got hurt. The ball is coming out great. Now it’s just going to be a matter of catching innings and get up to the speed of the game.”
McCann plans to catch back-to-back games at some point this week as he works on getting back in game shape. He said that’s the only issue at this point.
“I’ve tested my arm as much as I can possibly test it, woke up the next day and felt the same as the day before,” he said.
Once McCann returns to form, it will add more pop to a Braves lineup that already has plenty. McCann is a five-time winner of the NL Silver Slugger award for his position with a career OPS of .826.
Gonzalez warned that it will take McCann some time to get back to form. He said McCann initially won’t take on his usual heavy workload behind the plate.
McCann said he’s never felt sorry for himself during his rehabilitation, instead choosing to take some positives from his circumstances. Still, Gonzalez said after talking to McCann on Monday he noticed a change in his disposition since the spring .
“When you get a superstar player and he’s injured, those first five or six weeks in February are not very good,” Gonzalez said. “Now he sees light at end of tunnel and he knows it’s close to coming back and so his spirits were really, really good. And he looks good. Reports from minor league coaches and scouts saying that his arm is working and now it’s just a matter of getting some at-bats, get some games and see where he’s at.”
McCann was sidelined by an oblique injury in 2011. McCann experienced shoulder pain on some swings for much of last season before eventually undergoing surgery to repair a torn labrum in the back of his throwing shoulder and secure ligaments back to the socket to stabilize the joint.
But McCann said he doesn’t view his circumstances as a chance to finally be healthy after a run of bad luck with injuries.
“I came back (in 2011) and I just wasn’t very good; it wasn’t because of injury,” he said. “I look at it as one year. I don’t look at it as I’ve had all these injuries. I’ve been able to play a lot of games over eight years. I had a shoulder (injury) and I’ve got to bounce back from it.”
McCann broke in with the Braves as a 21-year old in 2005. He played 59 games that season, was named an All-Star in his first full season and has been a mainstay in Atlanta ever since.
He said going back to the minors as an established big-league player, even for a temporary stay, was an eye-opener.
“I’ve gone back to see Randy Ingle, (Ralph) “Rocket” Wheeler, Bobby Moore, Mike Dunn,” Dunn said, referring to personnel in the Braves’ minor-league system. “I went to them at 18, 19-years old and to go back at almost 30-years old, having seven or eight years in the big leagues, it’s been a different experience. I wouldn’t say it’s been a bad experience.
“There are a lot of kids trying to get here. When you get here you kind of forget that but all these kids are doing what I did 10 years ago. It was a fun process.”
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