Yankees Brian McCann Not as Bad as You Think

Though many Yankees fans will complain that Brian McCann is no longer worth the $17 million he’s making this season, an in-depth look at his numbers tells a different story.

When the name of your favorite Yankees player comes up in trade talks, the first thing to do is to deflect blame from said player onto someone else. And so in 2016, it appears Brian McCann is getting his fair share of animosity from ‘pinstripe’ supporters.

Let’s first look at a few of the reasons why the scrutiny may be warranted.

McCann is 32-years-old, and while his best playing days may officially be behind him, the Yankees are still on the hook for $17 million through 2019, and an additional $15 team option in 2020 that will vest if he totals 1,000 PAs from 2017-18, catches 90 games in 2018 and is not on the disabled list at the end of the 2018 season.

McCann is a strict pull hitter in an era where most every team implements the shift at the precise moment number 34 steps into the batters box. Of his 170 at-bats this season, opposing teams have only played a normal infield depth on 18 of those plate appearances. During those 18 ABs, McCann is batting .444; against the shift, .243.

As far as RBI are concerned, we can look at this subjectively. Obviously, you can only drive in runs if there are indeed men on base to score. And as we know by now, getting runners on, especially into scoring position has been a tall task for this latest Yankees iteration.

McCann currently has 38 RBI to his name, which is 56 short of his 2015 career-high of 94 (tieing his same amount from 2009).

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Putting the onus fully on the 12-year veteran is the telling stats that McCann is hitting a putrid .238 with men on base and an even more appalling .210 with runners in scoring position.

As far as defense is concerned, the current MLB caught stealing percentage is 30%; McCann’s is 24%. While this isn’t way off from the median, it’s a far cry from the 36% he achieved last season.

OK, now that we’ve got the negative out of the way, let’s focus on what makes McCann a valuable asset to the Yankees.

In comparison to the other 29 starting signal callers in Major League Baseball, McCann’s…

35 runs are sixth in MLB and second in the AL
59 hits are tenth in MLB and third in the AL
14 HR are tied for first in all of MLB
38 RBI are fifth in MLB and second in the AL
32 walks are fourth in MLB and second in the AL
.347 OBP% is fifth in MLB and first in the AL
.462 SLG% is fifth in MLB and second in the AL
1.2 WAR (wins above replacement) ranks third in the AL

Defensively, McCann…

Has only committed two errors (tied for fourth in MLB and second in AL) in 603 chances (seventh in MLB and second in AL) for a .997 FLD%, ranking him fifth in MLB and second in the AL
Is tops in all of MLB with a range factor of 9.94

For those clamoring for the Yankees to trade away McCann so that Austin Romine and his .225 career BA, four homers and 27 RBI can become the starting catcher, pump the breaks. Remember, this was the same guy that the Yankees DFA on April 4 of last year to make room for JR Murphy.

As for super-prospect Gary Sanchez, he’s still only 23-years-old and needs more game experience behind the dish before he’s ready to take command of an MLB pitching rotation.

All in all, when you place the numbers side-by-side with other MLB backstops, it’s easy to see that the Yankees still have a pretty damn good one in Brian McCann.

Next: Yankees Don't See Giants as Good Fit for Trade

So until the day Sanchez is fully ready to ascend to the role of an everyday big league catcher, or McCann’s body simply won’t allow him to play at the level the Yankees expect out of him, be glad we have a catcher that has already strapped on the tools of ignorance 71 times in 2016.

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