Throughout McCann’s career, his power has been an asset and isn’t diminishing quite yet. His hard-hit percentages are still north of 31 percent, which has been the case for him since his second year in the majors all the way back in 2006. Additionally, his home run to fly ball rate is at a lofty 14.3 percent to this point in the season, which, too, has been a constant for him as he’s achieved a double digit mark in nearly every season of his career.

One more constant for McCann during his career has been his ability to smack sinkers with the best of them. According to BrooksBaseball, McCann’s BAA against sinkers since the start of the 2007 season is a hearty .291, and his slugging percentage sits at .482. The only pitch that he has succeeded against more, with at least 150 at-bats, is the cutter, which he’s .297 and .527 against.

To no surprise, Brian McCann has continued to prosper against sinkers in 2016. His .438 batting average when facing the pitch is second only to his mark of .455 against changeups this season, but what’s most impressive has been McCann’s ability to mash the pitch. He has slugged a lofty .750 against the sinker through May 12 which is far superior to the mark against every other pitch that has been dished out to McCann in the early goings of this season.

It’s comforting to see McCann succeed against the sinker in the early part of 2016 after he saw rare struggles against it in 2015, hitting just .205 against from bell to bell. It marked the second straight season in which McCann hit below .250 vs. the sinker after hitting .234 while slugging .405 in 2014.

So, is McCann getting back to form against sinkers? It would certainly appear that way. While it is merely just mid-May he has fared worlds better against the sinker than he did for all of 2015 and 2014 and is looking like the hitter he was against the particular pitch for much of his time as a member of the Atlanta Braves. The Yankees will need him to continue to mash against the sinker, as well as just about everything else to this point, especially so with a lineup that is not doling out runs by the dozen.

Whatever the case, it might behoove Brian McCann to keep chasing sinkers. With any luck, good fortune will follow.

Photo: Anthony Grupposo / USA Today Sports

While being a backstop involves a variety of responsibilities, catching baseballs is the primary one. No matter how good one is at controlling the running game, handling a pitching staff, and directing the infield, it is impossible to earn a living as a catcher without being able to catch. Everything starts with securing the baseball, or at least keeping it in front of you.

In recent years, the baseball world has become more aware that it’s not only that you catch that matters, it’s also how you catch. Framing numbers have revealed that skilled receivers have earned their teams a significant amount of runs in the form of extra strikes. Style matters and presenting the ball a certain way has clear advantages.

The New York Yankees have a catcher in Brian McCann who has an excellent reputation in terms of most facets of his defensive job, but particularly blocking and framing. McCann has been considered a good catcher for many years because he doesn’t let the ball get behind him and he frames it well.

During the 2015 season, for the first time ever he did neither of these things. On the blocking side he allowed 55 wild pitches, the worst total in the majors. In his previous 10 seasons in the big leagues he had never allowed more than 44. It’s worth noting he had only one passed ball scored against him, but the difference is so subjective that the two can easily be crammed into one category and the 56 PB+WP he allowed was still a career high.

In terms of framing—by both Baseball Prospectus and StatCorner measures—McCann took a free fall from 2014.

Over the course of his career, the Yankees backstop has been one of the league’s top receivers so it is very peculiar to see him suddenly turn up as a negative in 2015.

This information can be interpreted in a number of ways. It’s not entirely illogical to dismiss it as a bad year in a couple of areas, but nothing more. McCann has a long track record of excellence in these categories and that should mean more than a single season when projecting his performance going forward. If his bat had suddenly collapsed in 2015 it would be too early to label him an offensive liability.

Things get a little bit more interesting when the fact that McCann’s on the verge of turning 32 is taken into consideration. While folk wisdom tells us that catchers age especially poor, the actual data seems to contradict that notion. However, spending a decade behind the plate is physically demanding. It’s not difficult to imagine it sapping some of the abilities needed to block baseballs for instance. Both agility and reaction time undoubtedly erode with age.

Framing is a little bit of a different story. The numbers are too new for us to know how well the skill of framing ages with any kind of confidence. It is apparent that one can be an excellent receiver at an advanced age, a la Jose Molina, but he might just be one-of-a kind.

When it comes to 2016, McCann’s ability as a blocker should be scrutinized closely because of his age and last year’s results. Expecting him to lead the lead the league in wild pitches allowed once more might be a bit of a stretch, but he’s already posted one worrying season in this domain and his skills could be slipping away.

More optimism should be sunk into a framing bounce-back. It seems unlikely his strike-stealing wizardry would dissipate for no apparent reason. Framing is not linked closely to a specific hard physical skill, so it’s more difficult to imagine Father Time factoring in so abruptly. It’s very possible that 2015 will likely go down as a blip.

Going into next season, McCann is a rock-solid two-to-three win catcher who should be the last on a Yankees’ fan’s list of worries. It wouldn’t hurt him to catch the ball a little better though.

After all, it’s right in his job title.

Lead photo courtesy of Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

*Brian McCann, $15M vesting option 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
*Brendan Ryan, $1M player option
*Alex Rodriguez, $6M bonus at 763 HR and 764 HR
*Brett Gardner, $12.5M Team Option, $2M Buyout
*Jacoby Ellsbury, $21M Team Option, $5M Buyout
*C.C. Sabathia, $25M Vesting Option if he 1) does not end 2016 on the disabled list with a left shoulder injury, 2) does not spend more than 45 days in 2016 on the disabled list with a left shoulder injury or 3) does not make more than six relief appearances in 2016 because of a left shoulder injury. $5M Buyout.
*Masahiro Tanaka, can opt-out in 2017

Catcher

Although Brian McCann’s contract is far from perfect, it is still a very solid deal. Worth about 3.0 WAR in 2015, McCann will hope to put up similar numbers through 2017, his age 33 season. It’s hard to look so far into the future, but there’s a decent chance that McCann is a DH by 2018. The Yankees expected this when designing the contract, so they included a vesting option for 2019 that is only activated if McCann continues catching over 90 games. Basically, it insures that the team will only pay McCann as a designated hitter for one season, not two.

The Yankees’ future behind the plate looks to be in safe, albeit unspectacular, hands. The Yankees have three potential options on the 40-man roster in John Ryan Murphy, Austin Romine, and Gary Sanchez. None of them are overly exciting, but there’s still a chance that Sanchez turns into an above average regular, and Murphy appears to be one of the better backup catchers in the league. 

1st Base

Mark Teixeira had a big season in 2015, even ranking third in WAR among AL players in the first half. That said, it’s hard to imagine him living up to the over $23 million he’s owed in 2016. On the bright side, 2016 is the last year of his contract. Once Teixeira is off the payroll (he is unlikely to be re-signed), the Yankees will be in great shape financially at first base.

Greg Bird is looking like the Yankees’ first baseman of the future, and he is under team control for a long time. With less than half a season of major league service time, Bird won’t be eligible for free agency until 2021 at the earliest. He should be cheap for a while as well—not even hitting arbitration for another two to three years. Assuming nothing weird happens, first base should be locked down at a low cost long term.

2nd Base

With Stephen Drew off the payroll after a dismal 2015, the Yankees are without a trustworthy option at second base. Rob Refsnyder and Dustin Ackley should both be very cheap, but the Yankees don’t seem to be comfortable starting either at second for a full season. The team doesn’t want another Stephen Drew situation in 2016—the team’s second baseman ranked last in MLB in WAR—so it wouldn’t be surprising to see them sign a player in free agency. Some potential options are Howie Kendrick, Daniel Murphy, Ben Zobrist, and Astrubal Cabrera.

3rd Base

Chase Headley is getting $13 million through 2018, which looked like a perfectly reasonable contract prior to the 2015 season, but now may be a bit too high. A 4.2 WAR season in 2014 gave way to just 1.5 in 2015, mostly due to a sharp decline in his defense. Not only did he commit 15 more errors in 2015 (8 to 23), but Headley’s DRA (defensive runs allowed) plummeted to -6 from 13, and his ultimate zone rating went from 20.9 to -3. Headley’s not going to be an offensive force at the plate, so if his defense doesn’t bounce back, the next three years may be ugly.

The Yankees don’t have a surplus of third baseman in the farm, and their best two prospects, Eric Jagielo and Miguel Andujar, come with flaws. Jagielo may end up moving to first base, and Andujar is years away from the big leagues and a risky player. Third base on the Yankees roster and payroll could quickly become a liability if Headley doesn’t rebound.

Shortstop

Over the past year, the Yankees’ shortstop position has been all over the place, ending 2014 with the retirement of a legend, who was then replaced with Didi Gregorious. Gregorious had an up and down season, starting very slowly, but eventually blossoming into an above average player. Gregorious is currently very cheap for a 3.0+ WAR shortstop, and will be with the team through 2020 at the very least.   

The Yankees also have plenty of shortstop candidates on the farm, with Jorge Mateo and Tyler Wade coming closer to the big leagues. Wade could be up in 2017, and Mateo in late 2017 or 2018. Whether or not Gregorious is still with the team by 2021, the fact remains that the Yankees are in good shape at shortstop.

(Photo: Brad Penner-USA Today Sports)

Not everybody, however, was enthusiastic about McCann’s arrival in the Bronx. Some people, like his former manager, thought McCann would not be comfortable playing in New York. Others saw a catcher about to turn 30 with more than 1,000 games on his legs,whose number of games caught had decreased for three consecutive seasons, and was just a season removed from posting just a .245 TAv and 1.5 bWARP.

No matter how you felt about the signing, though, you had to agree on one thing: McCann would at least hit for some power in Yankee Stadium. After all, he was a left-handed batter who averaged 21 home runs per season from 2006 through 2013, and pulled the ball 46 percent of the time (league average was about 39 percent during that period), making him ideally suited for the Stadium’s dimensions. 

So imagine most people’s surprise when McCann struggled at home throughout 2014, hitting just .242/.288/.496 at Yankee Stadium. He still produced a 117 wRC+, thanks to 19 of his 23 home runs coming at home. No other catcher in baseball hit more than 14 home runs at home, and only three players in all of baseball hit more than McCann’s 19.

While McCann’s power numbers were strong, he failed to do just about anything else offensively, especially get on-base. Of the 13 MLB catchers who had at least 200 home at-bats last season, McCann ranked 12th with a .288 on-base percentage. In fact, 2014 was filled with one disappointing homestand after another for McCann offensively. As you will see, nearly every homestand produced the same results: two or three home runs, few, if any, walks, and a miniscule BABIP and AVG.

In the season’s opening homestand against the Baltimore Orioles, Boston Red Sox, and Chicago Cubs, McCann went 5-for-27, good for a .659 OPS. He did hit two home runs in the eight games, but drew just one walk in 28 plate appearances. He posted just a .143 BABIP.

After a very good seven game road trip in which he hit .346/.393/.500, McCann’s struggles continued when the team returned home in late April. In seven games against the Los Angels of Anaheim, Seattle Mariners, and Tampa Bay Rays, he went 4-for-28 with a .454 OPS. He managed one home run,  but had no walks and a .136 BABIP.

McCann improved slightly better during a 10 game homestand in late July, when he hit .270/.308/.405,. The plate discipline remained absent (no walks), but there was still some power (one home run). His .281 BABIP was his highest total for any homestand of four or more games in 2014, but in the Yankees longest homestand of the season, McCann walked just once in 39 plate appearances.

The July improvements preceded McCann’s one shining homestand, which came during a nine game stretch to open September. After a mediocre August overall (.219/.282/.453), McCann returned to Yankee Stadium for a nine game stretch against Boston, Tampa Bay, and the Kansas City Royals. In eight games, McCann hit .310/.355/.621 with three home runs. He opened the homestand by going 6-for-8 with two home runs in the first two games against the Red Sox. McCann, though, walked just once in 31 plate appearances.

Unfortunately, the newfound home success was short lived. In a nine game homestand that closed out the season (minus the final weekend series at Fenway Park), McCann hit just .207/.250/.517. Again, he hit for power (three home runs), but could do very little else (one walk and a .136 BABIP).

For the season, McCann posted a .214 BABIP at home, and a strikeout rate (14 percent) three times his walk rate (4.7 percent). The dip in home walk rate and overall walk rate (5.9 percent) was cause for concern. From 2005 through 2013, McCann posted an overall walk rate (9.5 percent) better than both the league average for catcher’s (8.0 percent) and the overall league average (8.4 percent). It was a major part of his offensive game that had vanished, and it was a cause for concern heading into this season.

2015

That concern, though, dissipated almost immediately this season. Entering Tuesday’s game against the Minnesota Twins, McCann was hitting .288/.369/.595 with 13 home runs at Yankee Stadium. He owns a 160 wRC+ at home, and his .287 BABIP is nearly 70 points higher than last season. Of the 170 major league players who received at least 153 home at-bats through Monday’s games, McCann’s has the 13th highest OPS (.964). 

So, why is McCann finding so much more success at home in 2015? Is he pulling the pull with greater frequency? Is he hitting more line drive and fly balls?

For starters, McCann is walking at rates consistent with his career numbers prior to 2014. This season, his walk rate has more than doubled at home, from 4.7 percent to 9.9 percent. In fact, McCann already has nearly as many walks this season (12) as he did all of last season (13), in 102 fewer plate appearances entering Tuesday night. 

No longer a boom or bust hitter at the Stadium, McCann has more doubles this season (8) than he did in 2014 (7), and just 19 fewer hits.

Interestingly, McCann is actually striking out more frequently at home this season, but otherwise his home splits are comparable, with only slight increases in his home run to fly ball ratio and pull percentage:

And unlike 2014, McCann had been remarkably consistent at home this season up until the previous three homstands:

McCann, however, showed signs of busting out of his recent home slump against the Twins, going for 3-for-5 with a double and home run in the first game of their series. (Editor’s note: McCann went 0-for-3 with a walk against the Twins on Tuesday).

In 2015 at home, McCann is reaching base with greater frequency (and consistent with his career numbers) and riding a BABIP more than 70 points above last season’s average. He also remains a pull hitter capable of consistently taking advantage of the Stadium’s short porch in right field. The 2014 struggles appear to be an aberration, at least at the moment. As of Tuesday, Yankees play 19 of their next 25 games at home. This season, that has to be music to the ears of Brian McCann.

(Photo: Adam Hunger-USA Today Sports)

In comparison, the 2014 Yankees hit just 147 home runs. New York has also boasted a .180 ISO, which compares favorably to the .135 mark of their 2014 club. Over a year, the team’s slugging percentage has risen from .380 to .440.

After scoring 90 runs in the past 10 games, the Yankees maintain a firm grasp on the number two spot in the runs department, and the top spot in the AL East. So what has been the difference on offense?

Let’s take a look at the changed names on the offense. The two names who didn’t appear in 2014’s lineup are Didi Gregorius and Alex Rodriguez. In the power department, Gregorious shows a slight improvement over Derek Jeter, with one more homer up to this point in the season.

Alex Rodriguez, on the other hand, has proven his worth with the Yankees in a big way, knocking 24 homers and 62 RBI while slashing .281/.388/.539 in 98 games.

Without a doubt, A-Rod has helped to lift the Yankees to an elite offense, but by no means has he brought the team’s ISO by .55 and SLG by .60.

So what has?

The answer lies within the returning players. Two in particular being Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann. The duo has posted 47 homers in 2015, eclipsing their mark of 45 last year. Teixeira’s ISO has increased from .182 in 2014 to .314 this year, while McCann’s has risen from .164 to .222. Teixeira’s slugging has improved from .398 to .582, with McCann upgrading from .406 to .477.

However, the Yankees have turned it up a notch, knocking 24 homers in the last 14 days. To put that in perspective, the Marlins, Athletics, and Brewers combined have hit just 15 home runs in the last two weeks.

The Yankees offense has been dominant these past couple weeks. In the last fourteen days, they lead all of baseball in home runs, runs, RBI, ISO, OBP, slugging, weighted runs created, weighted on-base, and WAR.

Clearly, this is an elite offense. If the bats can continue producing as the game’s top offense, they might just be the favorites in October.

(Photo: Andy Marlin-USA Today Sports)

Entering play on Thursday the Yankees have been one of the hottest teams in baseball scoring an average of six runs per game during their recent seven-game winning streak. The key to their offensive success? Patience.

“The older you get, you know your strike zone and you stick to that,” said Stephen Drew, whose out-of-zone swing rate of 21.5 percent ranks 15th* in all of baseball. “Everybody just has a good plan going up there. If you don’t get a pitch to hit, you pass it on to the next guy. I think we’ve done a really good job of that and it’s paid off.”

All eight of the Yankees’ qualified starters are among the league’s top 115 hitters in pitches seen per plate appearance, while Jacoby Ellsbury and Chris Young, who have split time due to Ellsbury’s injury, would be among the 60 best with their current marks.

“We’ve got a good lineup,” said Brian McCann after the Yankees’ 6-1 win against the Nationals Tuesday. Max Scherzer was chased from the game before he could complete seven innings, having thrown 116 pitches. “Top to bottom, it’s hard to not let one person beat you. We’ve got guys up and down that can do damage. Trying to game-plan against us is tough.”

The Yankees have been able to put balls in play and produce baserunners at any stage of the game, boasting the seventh-lowest strikeout rate (.191) and 9th-highest walk rate (0.082) in baseball. That’s created a hefty bunch of scoring opportunities.

In particular, the top four hitters in the Yankees’ lineup have been the most problematic for opposing ballclubs. Brett Gardner has seen over four pitches per plate appearance on average, good for fifth-best in baseball, and has swung at just 23 percent of pitches outside of the strike zone, which ranks 28th in baseball. After him, the aforementioned Ellsbury and Headley have worked pitchers, and so has A-Rod. Rodriguez’s eye has also been exceptional, as he’s swung at just 24.6 percent of pitches that have missed the zone, and in turn he’s posted a toasty .373 OBP.

“You look at what Alex [Rodriguez] has done and how often he’s gotten on base, and it’s not always about the hit – he’s taken his share of walks,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. “It sets up nicely for Mark [Teixeira] because he’s a great RBI guy.”

Boy, have things ever set up nicely for Teixeira. He’s stepped to the plate 126 times with runners on base, and has had the opportunity to drive in 174 runners – both top-five marks in all of baseball. That’s led to an AL-leading 45 RBIs, and the fact that he’s been able to hit 20 HRs has been an added bonus. Not to mention, he’s been able to find some good pitches himself choosing to swing at just 22 percent of pitches out of the strike zone.

“That’s something that we’ve always tried to do,” Girardi said. “We’ve sought out hitters that are patient, that walk, that hit home runs – that’s kind of the lineup we have this year. It’s played a key role in us scoring runs and having two and three-run homers. Those are a lot of times the tough ones for clubs to rebound from. You can rebound from giving up solo homers, you can give up a couple a game and it’s not a big deal. Those are the type of hitters we look for.”

Simply put, the way New York’s lineup has made opposing pitchers work has made it increasingly difficult to keep their pitch counts down and not make mistakes.

“They’re smart hitters,” Nationals Starter Gio Gonzalez said. “That’s one hell of a lineup. You can’t pitch around anyone there. You have to go after each one.”

The system the Yankees have in place has worked to perfection, especially when it comes to the top of the order. Hitting streaks will come and go, and so will power numbers. The one thing that looks steady about these Yankees, though, is their ability to put together good at-bats. That should help them win a lot more games this season.

*Note: All Major League rankings for swing stats are for players with a minimum of 500 pitches seen.

(Picture: Joe Nicholson-USA Today Sports)

So far the veteran backstop has posted a 3.5 WAR in his time with the Yankees; he’s been solid, but his offensive output has been declining instead of exploding due to the move from New York to Atlanta.

A logical conclusion to draw from this information is that the Yankee Stadium angle was overblown and his new home park hasn’t gifted him a bundle of cheap home runs. However, McCann has actually excelled at home just as the Yankees imagined when the signed him, especially this season.

It turns out he’s got the exact boost that one would expect and has undoubtedly benefited from some cheap round trippers like the one he hit off Jeremy Guthrie of the Kansas City Royals.

That’s all well and good, but the other side of the coin is scary. McCann has been brutal on the road since he joined the Yankees.

Even with McCann’s solid glove work behind the plate he’s been a liability when the Bronx Bombers take to air and travel the country.

All of these numbers are based on fairly small sample sizes, but where there’s smoke there’s fire on something like this. Perhaps when McCann returns from his minor foot injury he’ll begin to be productive regardless of where he’s hitting, but there’s no guarantee. McCann is responding to Yankee Stadium as expected, but it seems his offensive skills in general are slipping.

The 31-year-old is undoubtedly entering his decline phase, but it’s hard to know how fast he’s tumbling down Father Time’s hill. The slope can be steep for catchers and it’s possible his friendly home park is camouflaging his fall.

When McCann made Yankee Stadium his home prior to the 2014 season it seemed like a really good idea. Given how well he’s produced there it’s hard to argue with that premise. However, the right-field porch in New York was supposed to boost his already-robust production.

Right now it’s starting to look more like a crutch than a supplement.

(Photo: Noah K. Murray-USA Today Sports)

Catcher

Brian McCann: 71 PA, .266/.319/.453, 2 HR, 110 wRC+

Those who were not enthused with McCann’s Yankee debut in 2014 quickly became irked by a slow first couple weeks, but through the magic of small sample size, McCann has picked up the pace since then and it shows in his stat line. His defense has been solid as usual and his wRC+ ranks in the top half of 24 catchers with at least 50 PA. For $17 million, there will always be a legion of fans demanding more, but at the same time, Buster Posey and Russell Martin are roughly similar with a .273/.345/.403 and .186/.347/.390, respectively, all for around the same average annual value.

Justified Annoyance Scale: 2*
*Scale is 1-5 with 1 being not at all and 5 being extremely justified.

Second base

Stephen Drew: 74 PA, .177/.274/.419, 4 HR, 88 wRC+

Drew’s number one problem is in that first column. Deserved or not, there are many who will just never be satisfied with someone hitting under .200. What’s weird about Drew so far is that he’s demonstrated among the best plate discipline in his career so far with a 12.2 percent walk rate while also maintaining a career-low line-drive rate (12.8 percent). There’s potential for more, even though he almost certainly won’t become the 20-homer threat his current dinger pace suggests.

As it stands, his wRC+ ranks around the middle of the pack in baseball while the Yankees’ last two active second basemen, Martin Prado and Robinson Cano, aren’t doing much better. Cano’s sluggish start won’t last, but if Drew’s offense can balance out at around a low-90s wRC+ for most of the season, that would stay right about average for MLB second basemen. Add in shortstop-quality defense that couldn’t be offered by Jose Pirela (ultimately a bench bat) or Rob Refsnyder (still figuring out second), and Drew’s been fine so far, though a few more knocks definitely couldn’t hurt.

Justified Annoyance Scale: 3

Shortstop

Didi Gregorius: 69 PA, .206/.261/.238, 0 HR, 40 wRC+

The new shortstop has exactly two extra-base hits all year and just seems to be swinging after every pitch he sees. There might be fewer grumbles with Shane Greene going through a rocky stretch in Detroit, but Gregorius can’t bat like this forever. He shouldn’t either, as last year he at least had a .244 True Average whereas in 2015, he’s pulling up a sub-.200 TAv. Nonetheless, it’s easy to be bummed by Didi’s play to date, as even on defense he’s gone through ups and downs. If anyone really needs a hot month to win over some fans, it’s Didi. With no internal solutions due to the difficulty of growing a shortstop, the Yankees had to deal from a strength to give a young, talented defender a shot. Only a couple regular shortstops have been worse than Gregorius. That must change.

Justified Annoyance Scale: 4

Right field

Carlos Beltran: 69 PA, .159/.217/.270, 0 HR, 27 wRC+

It’s difficult to watch once-extremely talented players rapidly age before your eyes, but that’s pretty much the story of the Carlos Beltran Era in Yankees history. Just a couple years ago, the switch-hitting outfielder slugged .491 with a .289 TAv for a pennant-winning Cardinals team. That all seems like a distant memory. Hell, even his middling .258 TAv from last year while battling a bone spur in his elbow all season looks Ruthian compared to his .174 TAv to date. If you’re looking for the right fielder with the lowest wRC+ in baseball with at least 50 PA, look no further. It’s Beltran. Meanwhile, he’s owed at least $27 million from now through the end of next season. That’s an uncomfortable financial commitment, but the leash cannot be too long if the Yankees fancy themselves contenders. They can only cross their fingers and hope for a recovery for so long.

Justified Annoyance Scale: 5

Photo Credit: Kim Klement/USA Today Sports