James McCann Stays Scorching Hot at the Plate

The beginning of James McCann’s tenure with the New York Mets was certainly disappointing. After signing a four-year, $40.6 million deal in the offseason, the veteran backstop struggled both offensively and defensively.

McCann slumped to the tune of a .338 slugging percentage, struck out 22 times, and homered just twice during the month of May. He ultimately ended up losing his starting job behind the plate to the red-hot Tomas Nido.

With the injuries piling up, McCann was forced to play first base for the first time in his professional career back on May 24 against the Rockies. Since homering and playing a strong first base that night, McCann has been a man on a mission.

In that eleven game span, McCann is hitting a scorching .367 with a 1.214 OPS, three doubles, four home runs, and 11 RBI. The Mets have finally began to see the production they expected out of the veteran slugger.

He picked up a clutch tenth inning pinch-hit RBI double in the Mets’ extra-inning loss in Arizona, and then helped carry them to a series finale win with three hits and four RBI the next day.

McCann kept the hot streak going over the weekend in a big series split with the San Diego Padres. He only picked up two hits in the three games he played during the four-game set, but both were long balls.

McCann said postgame on Wednesday that he feels the recent surge is just a result of him getting back to what he does well, sticking to his approach at the plate, and just putting good swings on the ball.

When he’s at his best, McCann is hitting line drives, putting the ball in the air, and using all fields, as he often displayed during spring training. The slugger seems to have gotten back to that approach, which has certainly helped improve his production.

According to Baseball Savant, he has increased his line drive percentage to 23.3% which has likely has led to his breakout. As a result of this recent stretch, McCann has raised his OPS to .666 and now has six homers and 22 RBI on the season.

“It’s one of those things where you get away from who you are and your mechanics change a little bit, your approach changes, and you try to do too much. It’s just one of those things you have to go through at times, that’s why you play 162 games,” McCann said.

The increased production of not only McCann, but also Francisco Lindor and Dominic Smith has been huge for this injury-plagued Mets lineup. They’ll look to keep the good times rolling as they take on Bruce Zimmermann and the Orioles on Tuesday night.