Mets: 3 glaring roster holes keeping New York from World Series contention
By Drew Koch
The Mets must get better production from their catchers
The days of a team’s shortstop and catcher being defenders only is over. Major League Baseball teams now expect the rarity of players like Ivan Rodriguez and Mike Piazza to be the norm. So far this season, James McCann is not getting it done at the dish.
The New York Mets catcher is hitting a paltry .125/.237/.250. This after posting an OPS of just .634 in 2021. The Mets signed McCann to a four-year/$40.6M contract prior to last season and have yet to see much of a return on their investment.
McCann was an All-Star for the Chicago White Sox in 2019, hitting .273/.328/.460 with 18 round trippers and 60 runs batted in. He then proved that production wasn’t a fluke by posting an .897 OPS in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
But perhaps those numbers were an anomaly. Last season, McCann hit just .232 and his on-base percentage was below .300. McCann’s backup, Tomás Nido, has a career-OPS+ of just 52. That’s not going to get it done.
New York’s top prospect, catcher Francisco Àlvarez is still a year or two away from making his major league debut. Either James McCann has to start producing or the Mets may need to add a backstop with some pop before the trade deadline.