The infusion of deeper analytics into baseball has altered our perception of the catching position more than any other. A catcher’s defense used to be evaluated largely on how often he caught opposing base runners trying to steal. Now, we have thorough numbers for blocking and framing, the latter being the most discussed aspect of a catcher’s defensive impact.
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Mets catcherJames McCann has always had the arm to make an impact behind the plate; he was nicknamed McCannon in college at Arkansas by his teammate Dallas Keuchel. And over the past two years, McCann has worked hard to become a better pitch framer, with his numbers improving drastically in that regard in 2020.
But the most important aspect of being behind the plate to McCann can’t be counted in a stat.
“I do think the most important piece is something you can’t quantify, which is building those relationships, calling a good game and developing that trust with your pitchers,” he said.
In Chicago, McCann forged a tight relationship with Lucas Giolito as the ace broke out in 2019 and into 2020. He caught Giolito’s no-hitter last summer, and the two were so close that the pitcher’s mother, an artist, gave the catcher a painting of the pair.
That task was not simple for McCann after he joined the Mets this winter. Camp protocols limited the time players could spend together at and away from the ballpark throughout spring. So how does McCann try to get to know an entire pitching staff in a few months, and how did he go about it in a pandemic world?
I chatted with him over the phone in late spring training to find out. The interview has been lightly condensed and edited, and includes my annotations.
We’ve heard from basically every pitcher that you reached out to them within a day or two.1 What is that first conversation like with a pitcher? What do you try to get out of that?
First and foremost is just the introductory piece. Just kind of reach out, exchange information, just to set up the future conversations. But in doing that, it shows that you care, and it shows that I’m definitely not waiting until spring training to get to know you. I want to start things now.
Then moving from there, I started to dive in on them specifically on the field and then that way, when we start talking more, I can get to know them off the field. I already have a foundation of who they are on the field.
1Mets manager Luis Rojas in spring training: “Every time we acquired a pitcher, (McCann) texted me for his number. Sometimes I would go to my cell, like, ‘I haven’t even talked to this guy yet.’ He wants to beat me to it.”
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When you’re diving in to who they are on the field, what are you looking at? What kind of research are you doing?
I’m just looking at a lot of the analytical stuff, how their pitches play.2 I go back and look at stretches where they’ve been the best in their career and see what they’re doing well at that point. And then look at points where maybe they weren’t doing as well and what they struggled with. Was it command? Was it stuff? What was it? Just to be able to help them through those tough times and be able to extend those good times.
2 McCann attributes much of his early growth as a catcher to Chris Curry, who was an assistant coach at Arkansas during McCann’s three years there. Curry, now the head coach at Arkansas-Little Rock, said, “He’s a genius at taking everything that the data and analytics team gives him and simplifying it down to something that a pitcher can handle. He’s a wizard at that.”
How long is that process? I imagine it’s not 10 minutes on each pitcher. It’s a little bit more involved.
Yeah, it’s definitely more involved. (Jeremy) Hefner and Brian Schneider, we had Zoom calls throughout the offseason where we dove in on guys and I literally told them: “Tell me everything you know on every guy.” I want to know where they’re from, where they’re living, married, kids, what they’re into, what are their hobbies. That’s part of getting to know your staff and knowing what makes each individual tick.3
3 McCann kept notes during all these conversations in a book that’s stowed away in his locker. Curry wasn’t sure that’s necessary. “Everything that came out of your mouth, he retained it,” he said. “That’s why he’s so good now with scouting reports and video and knowing what to call. I would say he’s an encyclopedia, but those are gone. He’s a Google file full of hitter information and pitcher information. He could probably tell you things about college hitters he remembers.”
What is that first longer conversation like with a pitcher? What do you go through in that?
The first really important and long conversation, it’s really just hearing their opinions of stuff.4 I would never go into a situation and tell a guy, “Hey, I think we need to start doing more of this.” I want to hear them talk and I want things to be their ideas and see what their thought process is. I never want to be the guy that it’s “my way or the highway.” I want to be a guy that works with them and builds that trust to where they really do trust my opinion.5
4 “This guy wants to be in sync with these guys,” Rojas said early in spring training. “He wants to learn, he wants them to learn him, where he’s coming from, how his thought process goes as far as getting guys out.”
5 Jacob Barnes worked with McCann over the offseason in Nashville. “We’ve figured out what we like to do and what we’re comfortable with,” Barnes said. “It was nice to get that one-on-one time and connect as far as, ‘Hey, I like to set up here, but if you like something different I can do that. Just let me know.’”
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How different are those conversations with different guys?
Some guys you can sit there and talk for 30 minutes to an hour, other guys you can sense after two minutes they’re ready to be done with the conversation. It’s just one of those things where you feel guys out and try to get the most out of it.
And that also helps me moving forward knowing how to deal with the guys. Is this a guy I can say something to in passing and they’ll figure it out? Or is this a guy I need to sit down and show on a computer or video of them? There’s so many different types of personalities and that’s really the big thing: Just trying to figure out how I can get the best out of each individual.6
6 Mike Piazza during his spring training visit: “You have to be almost like a psychiatrist in a way. Guys respond differently to different things. And so the biggest thing for me is I wanted that guy to have confidence in me. I wanted that guy to have confidence that I had his back, that I wanted him to win.” By the end of spring, Taijuan Walker said of McCann, “He knows the game. It makes it easier for me to go out there and just trust what he’s putting down and just getting a good rhythm with him and go out there and pitch. That’s the biggest thing for me: just finding that rhythm between me and my catcher. James knows what he’s doing. He gives me more confidence to just go out there and pitch my game.”
How much of a handle did you feel you had on the staff before spring training, just working remotely with guys at that point?
I felt pretty good.7 My big thing that I wanted to know coming into camp was what each guy’s strengths were. I wanted to know, at the end of the day, what is each individual’s strength? That’s really not going to change; that’s what got a guy to be the big leagues. I want to know that going into any conversation and obviously going into any game. That really helps calling a game. We don’t want to get beat with (Jacob) deGrom’s fourth-best pitch. If we’re going to get beat, we’re going to get beat on his best stuff.8
7 “He’s a step ahead,” Rojas said at the start of camp.
8In his first three starts of the season, deGrom is decidedly favoring his “best stuff.” He’s thrown 69 percent fastballs across those three starts (up from 45 percent last year), and he has not yet thrown his curveball, that fourth-best pitch, in 2021.
What is it like then to see those guys in person after having those discussions in the offseason, to get behind the plate for a bullpen session?
It’s funny. In today’s world, you feel like you know somebody even though you may have never met somebody in person.
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As much as you study and as much as you learn a guy’s arsenal, you don’t really know until you sit back there and you catch it. And then there’s a whole other dimension when you get out into game mode and guys are really letting the ball go. A perfect example of that is a guy like (Edwin) Díaz or (Jeurys) Familia. Their stuff is really good in the bullpen, but when that adrenaline gets going in the game, it takes it to another level and the ball moves even more. There’s just that kind of buildup as far as, you know a guy’s arsenal, then you see it in the bullpen, then you see what happens when that adrenaline kicks in in the game.
How different has this process been for you this time around compared to when you joined the White Sox (before the 2019 season)?
The biggest difference is this team is more built to win. When I first joined the White Sox, it was that year of, “OK, we’re ready to start coming out of a rebuild in this organization. We’re not quite ready to win.” So the expectations are different here. The personnel is different; you’ve got some unbelievable arms all the way through our staff. It’s got a chance to be a pretty special pitching staff.9
9 Chicago’s pitching staff had a noticeably better ERA when McCann caught the last two seasons. When he was behind the dish, the White Sox had a 4.14 ERA; when he wasn’t, it was 5.27. Catcher ERA is not a be-all, end-all stat, as it probably helped McCann’s numbers that he almost always caught Chicago’s best starter, Giolito. But he almost always caught him because of the tight relationship they built. For what it’s worth, Tigers pitchers had a slightly higher ERA when working to McCann from 2016 to 2018.
And how different has it been in spring this year just with different protocols that you have to adhere to, that you can’t quite be one-on-one the same way you might otherwise be?
That definitely makes it tough and adds a little bit of a hurdle. Being that we are an outside sport, it definitely makes it to where we have the opportunity to talk after a bullpen or in the dugout after an inning. I’m not able to take guys to dinner and talk there in a non-baseball setting. But you just manage to find ways. Every team is dealing with the same thing. It’s not like we’re at a disadvantage compared to other teams.
(Photo: Jasen Vinlove / USA Today)
Tim Britton is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the New York Mets. He has covered Major League Baseball since 2009 and the Mets since 2018. Prior to joining The Athletic, he spent seven seasons on the Red Sox beat for the Providence Journal. He has also contributed to Baseball Prospectus, NBC Sports Boston, MLB.com and Yahoo Sports. Follow Tim on Twitter @TimBritton
