Brian McCann Announces Retirement from Baseball
Just minutes after a disappointing 13-1 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals in Game Five of the NLDS, Atlanta Braves catcher Brian McCann announced his retirement from baseball. Kelsey Wingert of Fox Sports South was the first to report the news.
“This is everything that I wanted to do,” McCann said. “I wanted to come back and get a chance at the postseason and this is it for me. I’m going to go home and be a dad and play with those kids.”
“I went out the way I wanted to and I’m happy about that,” he added. “I’ll always be a part of this organization. I’ll be around. I’ll be watching those guys do their thing. I’ll be coming back a lot. I have a seven and six-year-old who love baseball. So I’ll be at the yard. It’s time to go. Fifteen years of catching, it’s sad, but it’s time,”
“I had a long career. Fifteen years is a long time catching every day. And I got to do it my hometown.”
— @Braves catcher Brian McCann pic.twitter.com/TQehAywvZw
— FOX Sports: Braves (@FOXSportsBraves) October 10, 2019
The End of a Tremendous Career
McCann, a Georgia native, was drafted by the Braves in the second round of the 2002 MLB Draft. He would go on to make his MLB debut with Atlanta on June 10th, 2005. McCann played with the Braves for nine years and was an All-Star in seven of those seasons. After nine seasons with the Braves, McCann signed a five-year contract with the New York Yankees. He played three years in the Bronx before being traded to the Houston Astros in November of 2016. McCann would win a World Series title with Houston in 2017. This season, the Braves brought the fan-favorite back home, signing him to a 1-year deal.
In 15 years as a big-leaguer, McCann finishes with a .262/.337/.452 career line to go along with 1,590 hits and 282 home runs. From 2008 to 2016, McCann posted at least 20 homers in every season — a nine-year streak surpassed only by Mike Piazza and Yogi Berra at the catching position.
Among catchers since the last round of expansion (min. 3,000 PA), McCann ranks fifth in PA’s (6,850), sixth in OPS+ (110), first in HR (282), second in RBI (1,018), and seventh in WAR (31.8).
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