Houston Astros catcher Brian McCann will undergo surgery on his injured right knee, manager A.J. Hinch confirmed Tuesday.
Hinch said the team wouldn't have a timetable for McCann's return, but The Athletic reported that the veteran catcher is expected to miss four to six weeks.
Th Astros placed McCann on the 10-day disabled list before their game Tuesday against the Texas Rangers. The move was made retroactive to Sunday. Max Stassi will take over as Houston's primary catcher while McCann is sidelined.
McCann, 34, is batting .206 with five home runs and 17 RBIs this season, his second with the Astros.
McCann played in just 97 games last year with the Astros and this year he has been dinged up and ceded more and more playing time to Max Stassi who has performed well in 2018 (1.3 fWAR in 48 games).
While this timeline does seem to indicate that he will be back before the end of the season, if Stassi is playing well upon his return....playing time could be a challenge for the 34 year old catcher. The catching position is notoriously brutal on the human body and while on some rosters he could simply slide over to DH, the Astros have a ton of bats and many of them have more upside than his at this point in his career. This situation also means that any chance of McCann’s 2019 option with the club vesting is likely out the window.
After year’s of catching 130 plus games, McCann only played in 97 games last year. Outside of one inning in the playoffs, McCann caught every game during the playoffs last year. McCann has a much better-caught stealing rate than Stassi. As I mentioned earlier, his loss will be felt by the pitching staff. Stassi has only thrown out 22% percent of stolen bases, but McCann was a little higher at 33%. Stats from Baseball-Reference.
Astros pitchers had a 2.47 ERA in 397 innings pitched with McCann behind the plate. On the other hand, pitchers have a 3.47 ERA with Stassi behind the plate. While the focus has been on the dynamic Astros rotation, McCann should get some credit for handling the pitching staff.
