First, they showered Brian McCann with money. Next, they raised expectations with words. Then they were impressed by the way he works with pitchers.
One month into the season, the Yankees haven’t seen a reason to believe McCann is the .225 hitter he was after Thursday night’s 4-2 loss to the Mariners at Yankee Stadium.
Five years and $85 million was what the Yankees paid for the left-handed hitting catcher many believed would marry his swing with the Stadium’s seductive right-field seats. So far, McCann has three homers; two at home.
“I’d like to swing the bat better,’’ said McCann, a .276 career hitter who has swatted 20 or more homers in the last six seasons. “I have felt really good at times and then not so good. It’s been up and down for me.’’
The .225 average is 14th among the 16 big league catchers who have enough at-bats to qualify. The .614 OPS is 16th out of 16.
History says a 30-year-old doesn’t fall off the hitting cliff. Even one who plays the most taxing position on the field.
Yet, with the starting rotation moving from strength to a question with Ivan Nova done for the year and Michael Pineda out for possibly a month, the pitching is short and needs to be propped up by the lineup.
So it would benefit the Yankees if McCann hit to his pedigree, something Joe Girardi raved about last Dec. 5.
“We think we have the next great Yankee catcher with us,’’ Girardi said when McCann was introduced at a Yankee Stadium press conference.
General manager Brian Cashman said the same day that if McCann “continued to do [what he did with the Braves], you are talking about a potential Hall of Famer.’’
There hasn’t been any indication those expectations or playing for the Yankees have overwhelmed McCann. Pitchers gush about his preparation and knowledge of what makes them better, and that handling the pitchers is McCann’s primary job. CC Sabathia said it was at McCann’s suggestion that he sets up on the third-base side of the rubber in order to get a different angle and more pitches on the plate.
Still, the Yankees didn’t sign McCann, who was their top offseason priority, to that contract to be the next Girardi.
According to hitting coach Kevin Long, McCann has gotten into a few bad habits lately.
“I have liked all of his ABs except for the last three games, a stretch of 11 ABs,’’ Long said before Thursday night’s loss.
“He was starting to jump a little bit, get off his back side and started to chase quite a bit. Up to that point his at-bats were good, his quality was good and his approach was good.’’
McCann was riding a 0-for-15 slide before an RBI single in the sixth inning on Thursday.
Like most left-handed hitters with power, McCann has seen plenty of shifts and has beaten a few with balls to the left side for hits. One thing McCann hasn’t done, according to Long, is take aim for the inviting right-field seats.
“It hasn’t played a part at all,’’ Long said of the short right-field wall. “He probably has hit the ball the other way more than in any other year.’’
Nor has facing lefties, since McCann is hitting .313 against them as opposed to .175 versus righties.
Again, there are no signs making the move from NL to AL or shifting from hometown Atlanta to The Bronx have played a part in the .225 average. And 89 at-bats is a small sample.
Still, when you combine what Girardi and Cashman said on Dec. 5 with $85 million, you can’t be faulted for believing more was expected than has been delivered so far.