Talking Chop

This preview is written by Chattanooga, Tenn. resident Andy Johns, who posts on this blog as playertobenamedlate.

Last season marked Brian McCann's fourth straight year as an All-Star, and his third silver slugger (Russell Martin beat him out in 2007). Despite his well-documented eye issues, McCann managed 551 plate appearances in 2009, which is only 22 fewer than 2008 and one fewer than 2007. He ranked third on the Braves in plate appearances behind Chipper and Escobar (McLouth had more combined between the Pirates and the Braves).

After early season issues with dry eyes and blurred vision, McCann adjusted to glasses and this off-season reportedly had a second Lasik procedure in October to correct the changes in his eyes since his first surgery in 2007.

McCann, who turns 26 on Feb. 20th, still hasn't been able to replicate his blistering 2006 campaign in terms of OPS. He's gone from .961 to .772 to .896 and .834 last year. Despite a slight dip in power numbers, he still led the team in RBIs, home runs and doubles in 2009. And despite failing to recapture that 2006 glory, he is still the best hitting catcher in the National League.

The biggest difference offensively for him between 2008 and 2009 seems to be his splits against lefties. His OPS went from .932 against righties and .820 against lefties in 2008 to .932 against RHP and .634 against LHP. In 2007 and 2006 his OPS against lefties was .756 and .809 respectively. I have no idea if his eye issues made it tougher to see southpaws or what other factors might be in play. His fly ball, ground ball tendencies stayed nearly constant losing only a few fly balls for grounders.

A 2nd-round pick in 2002, McCann became the last of the poorly-named Baby Braves this off-season when Kelly Johnson was escorted out of town.

I remember reading articles last off season about how McCann was losing weight and thought it would really help his defense. He was also said to be focusing on his throwing action to try and cut down on steals. Behind the dish, McCann did not have a great 2009. The guys over at Drive Line Mechanics ranked him 96th best defensive catcher in terms of runs last year. Curiously, David Ross is ranked third on the list. McCann is listed between Chris Snyder and Brayan Pena, ahead of Russell Martin (101), Benji Molina (102) and Jorge Posada (109).

After making nine errors in 2008, McCann made 12 errors in 2009, closing in on his career high of 13 in 2007. I attribute these errors to the extra time he spent learning Japanese to deal with KK and the time spent jotting down lyrics of songs to send to Flushing. Or maybe 12 to 13 is about what we should expect and 2008 is more of an outlier.

McCann cut down on base thievery (76 SBs against him in 2009 compared to 93 in 2008), but the percentage of runners caught stealing remained basically the same at 24 percent, compared to 23 percent in 2008. The fewer number of steals could be attributed to a number of factors based on pitchers and the fact the he spent 43 fewer innings (6 percent) behind the plate.

While McCann didn't have the banner year he or others may have hoped for, he is still solidly entrenched as the baseball's best offensive catcher not born in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The keys for McCann in 2010 will obviously be his eyes, but also his weight and the performance of those around him will also play big roles. .

His weight is listed on various sites from 230 on ESPN to 190 on The Baseball Cube (that sounds optimistic). I'd like to see him come back in similar shape to last year since dropping some pounds didn't seem to greatly affect his power numbers. He, like all of the Braves, would benefit from healthy production from Glaus and Chipper as well as the continued emergence of Escobar, who will likely hit behind McCann.

Composite projections (CHONE, Bill James, Marcel) put him at 20 to 24 home runs with an average around .290. They project 84 to 100 RBIs in 142 games and 550 plate appearances.

McCann is signed through 2012 with a club option for 2013.

On a personal note, when my wife and I went to a game shortly after the Francouer trade, Brian McCann's theme music when he came to bat struck a chord with my wife. McCann, who has always been one of her favorite players, chose Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody."

I've been roaming around, I was looking down at all I see
Painted faces fill the places I can't reach
You know that I could use somebody
You know that I could use somebody

Someone like you and all you know and how you speak
Countless lovers under cover of the street
You know that I could use somebody
You know that I could use somebody
Someone like you

She immediately theorized McCann had devoted the song to his recently-departed longtime playing partner and roommate and BFF. Maybe this explains McCann's solid but not spectacular 2009 and hopefully it will be resolved by this season.

Nice work on this player preview by Andy.