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McCann Soaking In Knowledge Of Veterans, Embracing Mental Side Of Game

By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak

LAKELAND, FLA. - Catcher James McCann, 24, enters Detroit Tigers spring training with a new level of comfort this season. After three previous turns in the big league camp as an invite, McCann heads into 2014 on the team's 40-man roster.

McCann made his debut with the Tigers as a September call-up, and now he starts spring training with a new perspective. Essentially, he knows now more than ever that he belongs.

"Previous years you kind of know going in that, sure, there might be a chance you make the team, but you're pretty much slated to go to Double-A, Triple-A, whatever, whereas this year, it really does make you feel like you're a lot more part of the team," McCann said. "The big thing's just comfort level, from knowing guys to feeling like there's a spot for me and I've got a chance, an opportunity, to make the team."

Playing games with Detroit forged a different kind of bond between McCann and other players, he said. Besides the experience of playing in games - "going to battle with these guys," as he put it - McCann got to see and hear firsthand how players like Justin Verlander, Victor Martinez and David Price approach the game. He also gleaned catching wisdom from Alex Avila and Bryan Holaday.

Avila in particular went out of his way to make McCann feel comfortable.

"He told me from day one, 'Hey, you're here because you're going to help us win a pennant. You're not here just to get your feet wet. We're in a pennant race; you're here for a reason,'" McCann recalled. "Before both starts that I had last year, he reminded me, 'Don't try and do too much. What's gotten you here is good enough. Don't think that you now have to play at another level. The level you've played at is good enough.'

"So he was very good about just trying to calm the nerves," McCann added, "and he understood that feeling of hey, this is your first time in the big leagues, it's nerve-wracking, you're so anxious, you want to succeed, so he was good about that."

McCann said all the veterans in the clubhouse have been great about sharing their knowledge. While he knows they do not always have time to field questions from him, he realizes he can learn an incredible amount just by keeping his ears open and hanging on every baseball word of those who have been in the big leagues for a number of years.

One player whom McCann deemed "phenomenal" in tutoring him last season was outfielder Torii Hunter, who presented to McCann a new twist on the essential element of preparing for games not just physically but also mentally.

"Once you get to the big leagues, you're never playing against the other team on the field," McCann said, recounting Hunter's advice. "Physically, yeah, you're playing against that team, but you're trying to beat that advance scout in the stands because that team that's coming in has had a scout watching you for the previous four games, and he's giving his current team, that you're playing, a report. So if you can be one step ahead of that guy in the stands, who's telling that next team that's coming into town what you're doing, what your weakness is at the time, if you can be one step ahead of him, you're always going to be one step ahead of the game.

"And I never heard it put that way," McCann continued. "You're not just playing guys on the field; you're playing guys that are scouting you and going to go tell the next starting pitcher that you're facing, 'Hey, he chased three sliders in the dirt.' It's just a different perspective versus playing pitch by pitch; you've got to realize that, hey, there's a scouting report getting out. If you've got a hole, you'd better make an adjustment or you're going to be in trouble for quite some time."

McCann has embraced film study - breaking down tendencies of hitters, studying how they did the last time against a given pitcher, formulating a strategy based on what worked well previously and what the hitters might be expecting. Since college, McCann has made a habit of being studious when it comes to the game. For him, it is not only a vital element of preparation but an enjoyable one, too.

"That's one of my favorite things is just studying, watching film, being prepared, and that's the way you've got to be to be successful," McCann said. "You've got to have your homework done so you can go out and you can just let your body take over. If you're trying to figure out different things on the fly, there's enough going on in a game where you're not going to be able to do that."

The Tigers feel McCann will be a very good catcher. If they decide not to platoon him with Avila this season, however, they could send him back to the minors, manager Brad Ausmus said Wednesday. McCann is early enough in his development that they might rather have him take all his at bats, albeit at a lower level, rather than sit on the bench in the majors.

Of course, any player wants to be the starter for the big club.

"Absolute - " McCann said reflexively before pumping the brakes a bit. "You don't ever dream of – yeah, that's the dream. But at the same time, you've got to be realistic, and you've got to know God's got a plan.

"Whatever that plan may be, I'm just going to come out and work as hard as I can each and every day and let the chips fall as they may," McCann added. "It's a business as much as it is anything."

 

 

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