It’s with hesitation that I step into a dialogue, albeit one conducted via reporters, between Terry Pendleton and Brian McCann. If I had to pick my half-dozen favorite Braves, they would make the list. But step I will, if only because the issue demands pondering.
On Monday, Pendleton — once the Braves’ third baseman, more recently their hitting coach and now their first-base coach — told Dan Martin of the New York Post: “New York is not Brian. That’s my opinion. I knew if he chose New York, there would be more than he expected or knew about. He’ll never be comfortable with that.”
McCann signed with the Yankees over the winter for $85 million over five seasons. Through 80 games, he was hitting .231 with 10 homers and 38 RBIs. According to Baseball Reference, his WAR (wins above replacement) rating was 0.4. By way of contrast, Evan Gattis — McCann’s successor as Braves catcher — had a WAR rating of 1.9.
More Pendleton: “Going from Atlanta to New York is a different animal. Brian McCann is going to put more heat on himself and for him, trying to do more is the worst thing for him. … That money is hanging over his head. A lot of guys say, ‘I’ve got to live up to that,’ instead of, ‘They signed you to play your game.’”
This isn’t a novel argument. Baseball men take it as a given that the scrutiny accompanying a fat contract can have a deleterious effect. (For a recent local example, we offer B.J. Upton.) They also concede that not everyone is meant to work for a big-market club. McCann was born in Athens, raised in Gwinnett and had, as of his 30th birthday, never played a professional game for any organization except the Braves. Have the bright lights of the big city gone to B-Mac’s head?
Speaking to New York reporters Tuesday, McCann offered a rebuttal. “I disagree. I absolutely love it here. I’ve got off to a slow start, but I absolutely love it here. … I really haven’t noticed a big difference (between cities). It’s still baseball. You put a uniform on; you go out and put your best foot forward. That’s what I’m doing. It just hasn’t gone quite like I wish it would.”
And here’s where I, know-nothing that I am, step in and say: I’ll concede that New York can be oppressive for some players. (Remember when the Yankees started pitcher Ed Whitson only on the road because he got booed so heavily in the Bronx?) I also consider McCann way too solid to be daunted by his environs. Flighty he’s not.
For more guidance, I consulted Russell Carleton, who lives in Atlanta, works in mental-health research and is an author for Baseball Prospectus. In an email, Carleton wrote: “This is a case where (Pendleton’s assertion is) completely, totally true — except that it might not be. … McCann could very well hate New York or might not be able to get fully comfortable living in NYC, or maybe he’s a 30-something-year-old catcher. Or maybe it’s seeing a bunch of new pitchers. Or maybe it’s that he developed a bad habit in his swing.”
As noted, McCann is a 30-year-old catcher. His final three seasons here were compromised by injury, which can happen to any player but happens more to catchers. Over his first five full big-league seasons, McCann never played fewer than 128 games; in his final three seasons as a Brave, he played 121, 102 and 80. Over those first five full seasons, his aggregate WAR rating was 17.6; over the final three, it was 5.7.
Last fall I suggested the Braves would be wrong to re-sign McCann. (They didn’t much try.) As ESPN’s Dan Szymborski, whose ZiPS projections are an industry standard, said then: “They can’t think they’d be getting 2005-2013 again. They’d be getting 2014 on up. He’s a catcher, which is a difficult position — that’s one thing history has consistently shown.”
Szymborski’s ZiPS projected that McCann would hit .263 with an on-base percentage of .339 and a slugging percentage of .462 this season. Through 80 games, he produced a tepid line of .231/.288/.378. If we look back, we shouldn’t be surprised. Through the midpoint of the 2011 season, McCann was a tremendous hitter; after tweaking an oblique in July, he wasn’t nearly the same. (He batted .310 in the season’s first half, .203 thereafter.)
The Pendleton point that resonated didn’t involve geography but technique. “He became a pull hitter over the last three years or so,” Pendleton told Martin. “When he got to the big leagues, he hit the ball everywhere. That’s what made him so good.”
Over his first three full seasons, McCann mustered 99 opposite-field hits, according to FanGraphs; over his final three seasons as a Brave, he managed 48. This has enabled opponents to shift their infielders. If you’re spraying the ball around, the defense can’t shift. Pendleton again: “He had it in his head he wanted to pull.”
I don’t believe the Big Apple is the cause of McCann’s troubles. As he said, baseball is baseball no matter where it’s played. The difference is that McCann isn’t as good at hitting a baseball as he was. Put it this way: Were he still a Brave, he no longer would be the everyday catcher.
