James McCann…asking the Almighty “Where Has My Youth Gone?”
Expecting pre-30 offensive performance from a post-30 catcher is a high risk, low reward proposition.
Sure, some guys can press on while putting on and taking off shin guards and getting hit by innumerable foul tips.
But many can't. Just ask Ray Fosse.
Two recents agers who used to be teenagers.
Wilson Ramos and James McCann
Good ol' Mr. Wilson was a borderline great hitter until he was 30. He had a bad hitting year at age 27 (.229) but rebounded to hit .307 the following year.
As a 31 year old, he hit a very fine .288 with the Mets, with 14 HRs and 73 RBIs.
Then he got “catcher-old”. He hit .239 in 45 games in his age 32 year for the Mets.
Then he hit .205 in his age 33 season in 2021, with a really low OBP, and that, as they say, was that. Buffalo out to pasture.
Jimmy McCann, and I don't care, (think Jimmy Crack Corn):
Well, he was a career .240 hitter with the Tigers, with two .220-ish seasons thrown in.
Then he jumped to the White Sox and, feasting on weak AL Central pitching, he hit .276 in 2019 and very well in COVID-truncated 2020.
Worth a gamble? Well, he was gonna be 31, so probably not.
Results? Definitely not.
540 Mets at bats, .220. And offensively he was in steep decline from late 2021 (age 30-31) right through 2022 (age 31-32), a stretch in which he hit .190.
Perhaps - just perhaps - he comes to spring training healthy and finds some pre-31 youth.
My guess is he goes the way of the mighty Buffalo, Wilson Ramos.
A catcher much over the age of 30 is, baseball-wise, about as aged as this early Mets gentleman:
Morale of this story?
Without a lot of analysis on my part, I surmise age 30 begins unhappy times for many catchers.
So...why not force-feed a 21 year old Francisco Alvarez in 2023, while he is young and lethal with the bat? He, too, will get old some day. Probably starting around 30-31. Why waste those bullets (actually rocket launchers) in the minors?
I hope this article did not catch you off-guard.
Whaddya think? I hope you set aside your tools of ignorance and gear up for a comment.
15 comments:
Interesting added factoid: in 2010, 89th overall, the Mets drafted catcher Blake Forsythe - major league at bats? None.
About 20 slots later, the Marlins drafted a catcher. His name? JT Realmuto. Major league at bats? Too many to count.
The real shame was not signing him as a FA because with the DH those old legs can be spared and extend his career. With Alvy PLAY THE MAN DH catcher whatever I want that bat in the lineup and lets remember Pete had that "can't field tag as well" and did pretty well as did Big Mike so lets use those 21 year old legs ASAP.
Alvarez will be the man.
And the ironic thing is the Ole draft expert here LOVED the Forsythe pick over JT
Mack, ya can’t win ‘em all. LOL.
Get that young man Alvarez in 2023 ( he was a mere naïf in 2022, now a man in 2023) in the batters box. If he hits like Kingman in 223, I won’t complain.
Agree that Alvarez needs to get a legitimate shot in the coming season.
Don't agree that it was age that got McCann - his legs seem fine as he plays defense. He just lost something in his swing that no one has been able to help him recover.
Age and the catcher position
Catcher is not the position a lot of good young baseball athletes ever want to try playing. It's a tough position to field. A lot of bat tips off the shoulder. The occasional collision at the plate with a runner. Pitches bouncing in front of the plate. It's a physically demanding position, almost like football many will contend. But it is mentally demanding as well. A truly smart catcher calling his own pitches and in harmony with each of his team's pitchers is like gold.
It isn't the catchers age so much as it is just how much abuse has transpired in their catching careers. Many old time retired MLB catcher walked away from the game limping. Others had disfigured fingers. And still others had arthritic knees and other assorted knee injuries for a lifetime.
In my opinion, the Mets' James McCann just needs a really good batting instructor to watch a lot of video with from the 2022 season and then back a couple of years to 2020. The clue to adjustment may be right there and quite simple. It's always that the batting mechanics have changed and James just needs to make the change back to when he was much more successful hitting. He can do this.
The answer is obvious with careful examination.
This isn't rocket science.
It may not be rocket science on McCann, but if the Mets felt he was an easy fix for 2023, they'd be feeling a whole lot better about the Man Named McCann than I suspect they do. .190 since the start of August 2021 - that is a long, long trough. And we do live in a digital age, so I presume McCann has watched plenty of before and after video. And still hit .190 for a year and a half.
I was surprised that the Mets are bringing back Daniel Vogelbach for the DH in 2023. His later season 2022 stats were dreadful and he carries a miserable .218 career BA into 2023.
Much rather have seen Eduardo Escobar (even Ronnie Mauricio who will be positional-less in 2023 but has awesome developing power) in the DH, with Brett Baty wisely getting the playing time at third base honing his big league skills for the second half of the season which could be huge.
I hope this isn't going to be another nonoptimal NYM off season. They need a creative change organizationally here in their way of thinking. This was not it.
Paul, I think it doesn't take much to drop a guy from average to sub-par. Just aging and more catching and being banged up may have degraded ol' Jimmy.
I was surprised that the Mets made Jake Mangum available to the Rule 5 Draft. The article I read said that he had a spinal injury in 2022 and missed 72 games. It's just a matter really of how series this was. The spine is nothing to kid with. I am sure this factored in. I wish Jake the best!
Everyone liked GT Ginn while in the Mets organization. But his 2022 season was kind of yuk. 5.10 ERA 1-4 record. Mack, didn't you always like this kid while here? Just kidding Clete 2!
LOL
Finn was sharp in Arizona just now.
Upon further video watching.
I for one am starting to really like this Koudai Senga Japanese right-handed starter phenom. Please forgive me here if it sounds in anyway prejudicial which is not my intention, but he already pitches American in that he is a fully athletic specimen on the mound, uses his legs exceedingly well, and Koudai does nothing at all hurky jerky like we used to see from other Asian starters new to MLB. He takes a long legged stride, hides the ball well, and has a really awesome fastball along with other secondary pitches.
I am convinced that Koudai Senga is not much of a risk at all and would benefit the NYM 2023 starting rotation. This signing would also do one other good thing for this team. It would eliminate the need to trade away really the Mets best young starters in Megill and Peterson. This team simply cannot afford to keep trading away its best young talent in trade package deals for a any other teams veteran player.
I would not at all mind a 2023 starting rotation that looked a lot like this: 1. Scherzer 2. Rodon 3. Senga 4. Peterson 5. Carrasco 6. Megill or Josh Walker. Maybe not everyone will see that Josh could be very effective starting pitcher in 2023. But with some work, I like this idea mucho mango. It is not a fool hearted idea. Josh Walker can pitch at this level. Just ask Brave Spencer Strider. Sillier things can happen.
At this early on point I am not aware if Taijuan Walker is actually or not interested in being a NYM in 2023. But he did show some serious promise especially first half of 2022.
We'll see. It's nice to have options.
Uncle Stewy's Long Bets
1. Josh Walker (lefty) makes the 2023 NYM starting rotation. (Silk)
2. Daniel Palka gets a look at 2023 ST start at DH. (Hungry)
Here's his stats from Syracuse 2022:
395 AB / .263 BA / .344 OBP / .506 SLG / 26 HR
3. A wake up call to Mets execs, and Mark Vientos is taken very seriously for NYM LF in 2023. The man is one of the smoothest players I have seen since Jetes played NYY. But the inn is full for the infield in 2023 and Brett Baty has got to start on third. True. This Vientos is a pure athlete and could easily make this position conversion to either LF or even 2B should Jeff McNeil agree to play LF. Not sure here though, Jeff is an awesome hitter. It's low risk and big reward if the Mets see this with Mark.
Kids, it was me Uncle Stewy, who suggested Cam Reddish and Jericho Sims needed to play and get serious experience on the NYK, especially first half. Way too gifted to be DNP every game. Way too.
Uncle Stewy Out.
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