James McCann is the toughest man in MLB, staying in after taking fastball to the face

The focus in MLB has been ont he trade deadline, with all 30 teams having until 6:00 p.m. ET on July 30 to make trades. For some teams, they can get a big-time player to help with their push to the postseason. For others, it gives them the chance to trade away players to bolster their farm system.

The Baltimore Orioles are the team to watch not just ahead of the trade deadline, but for the rest of the season. They entered Monday with a 62-43 record, and they faced off against the Toronto Blue Jays, who are in prime selling territory.

During Monday's game, the Orioles had quite the injury scare involving catcher James McCann. In the bottom of the first inning, McCann was hit in the nose by a 95 mph fastball from Blue Jays starter Yariel Rodriguez. The Orioles walked in a run as a result of the hit by pitch, but McCann laid by home plate, covering his face with blood dripping on his jersey.

You can see the hit by pitch at this link. But be warned, it is a graphic video.

Despite the scary incident, McCann showed off his toughness by remaining in the game with gauze placed in his nostrils. That's right, McCann played all nine innings despite getting hit in the nose by a 95 mph fastball.

James McCann remains in game despite taking fastball to the nose

McCann showed that getting his nose obliterated by a baseball wasn't going to stop him from not just remaining in the game, but also call it from behind home plate.

Not only that, but McCann also notched a hit. In the bottom of the fifth inning, McCann hit a bloop single to right field, allowing Cedric Mullins to advance to from second to third base. That set the stage for Mullins to score on a sacrifice fly by Colton Cowser, and McCann to score after a two-run homer by Anthony Santander, giving Baltimore a 10-3 lead.

After the game, Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said that while they believe McCann suffered a broken nose, they feel he avoided head and eye injuries. As for McCann, he was going to do whatever it took to remain in the game.

“I take pride in staying tough, doing what I can to stay on the field,” said McCann, h/t David Gisburg of the Associated Press. “That’s what I was able to do today.”

Orioles pitcher Tyler Wells took to X (or Twitter) to give commend McCann for his toughness, saying that he would go to war for the catcher. However, Wells joked, "But after seeing that, I am convinced that I would absolutely useless to him."

We'll see if McCann is to miss any time after this game. But given how he powered through a seemingly broken nose, we should not count out the catcher being back in the lineup very soon.