The Cincinnati Reds only have one catcher on their 40-man roster right now – Tyler Stephenson. They also lost a handful of minor league catchers that had played in Double-A and Triple-A following the 2024 season. That has put them in a bind where they need to add at least 4-5 catchers in free agency this offseason just to have enough guys to fill out the requirements for early spring training when there are 30+ pitchers who need to get their work in, much less the need to actually fill out the rosters in Chattanooga, Louisville, and Cincinnati. Mark Sheldon of Reds.com is reporting that the club has shown interest in free agent James McCann, who has spent parts of 11 seasons in the big leagues.
The catching position in Major League Baseball is bleak these days. There are nowhere near 30 catchers in the game who can actually both catch and hit at what should be an acceptable level for a big leaguer.
That brings us to James McCann. He’s spent the last four years with the New York Mets (2021-2022) and the Baltimore Orioles (2023-2024) before becoming a free agent after this past season ended. In those four years he’s hit .224/.279/.352 and has not had a season with a .300 on-base percentage since 2020. McCann had a good season in 2019 with the Chicago White Sox and made the All-Star team. Then in 2020 he put up an .896 OPS in 31 games, resulting in the Mets signing him to a 4-year deal worth $40,600,000. New York, though, traded him to Baltimore in December of 2022 and paid $19,000,000 of his remaining $24,250,000 he had on his deal.
You can see the career stats for James McCann here.
Catcher is not a spot that teams really look at for offensive production. It’s seen as a bonus rather than a requirement. But it also feels like the position is at the extremes – either you are a catcher who can hit well or you are a catcher who can’t hit at all. In 2024 there were 35 catchers who got at least 250 plate appearances. 17 of those catchers had an OPS over .700. 13 of them had an OPS of .650 or lower. 14 from that group had an on-base percentage below .300. 12 were below the .290 on-base percentage mark.
Cincinnati has to find someone to back up Tyler Stephenson for 2025 because right now there just isn’t an internal option to look at. But given that, they really need Stephenson to remain healthy if they want to get any sort of production from the position on an offensive level.
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