New Mets’ catcher James McCann spoke to the media on Thursday after signing a four-year, $40.6 million deal with the team that became official this week.

During the hour long press conference, McCann addressed several burning topics, including what he brings to the table as a catcher, his adjustments behind the plate, his relationship with pitchers and getting in offseason work with some fellow MLB players.

McCann Has World Series Ambitions

The culture around the Mets and its players has took a 180 degree turn since hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen purchased the team last month, and that has started from the top and is trickling down.

“The excitement surrounding the Mets right now is self-evident,” Mets’ president Sandy Alderson said. “We don’t really have to spin that, we don’t have to add to it, we don’t have to reach to hyperbole. People know who we are now, where we’re going.”

McCann echoed that notion.

“Everything is trending in the right direction,” McCann said. “I didn’t really need any selling.”

The backstop then doubled down on his excitement of joining the team, saying he’s excited to win a World Series and maybe more with the team.

“I look forward to the next four years of being a New York Met and we’ll see how many championships we can win in that time,” McCann said.

The Boost in McCann’s Defensive Prowess

During his last full season in 2019, McCann ranked No. 111 out of 123 qualifying catchers with a -7.6 catcher defensive adjustment (CDA) and No. 117 with a -10.2 fielding runs above average (FRAA).

However, there is a silver lining, in that McCann saw a vast improvement in his framing abilities in the shortened 2020 season. The catcher ranked in the 88th percentile in framing, according to Baseball Savant. Dilip Sridhar of MetsMerized takes a deeper dive into his improved framing here.

McCann talked about how he had never had a dedicated coach to work with him to make improvements behind the dish, until he started working extensively with Jerry Narron, a former MLB catcher and longtime coach.

Working with Narron is how McCann was able to improve his framing abilities, and to dig deeper into the analytic side of his game. Below, you can see the adjustment McCann has made to his game.

McCann added that while he thinks it’s important to incorporate analytics, he doesn’t want to be a robot.

“I want the numbers to be my foundation, and then I want to trust my eyes in the game,” McCann said. “The game has become so number-based and so heavily focused on defensive metrics and analytics. You have to be able to sift out what’s most important. The way I look at the metrics is that that’s my foundation.”

The California native then added that he values the relationship between a catcher and a pitcher, which is something that goes beyond just metrics.

“Especially in a day and age where everything is measured through a metric, through analytics, there’s one thing that we haven’t, as a baseball community, come up with a value for: the relationship between a catcher and a pitcher,” McCann said.

McCann Not a Stranger to Mets’ Pitchers

McCann mentioned that he has worked with Mets’ pitchers Brad Brach and Steven Matz the last couple seasons, in a bullpen session capacity.

Matz and Brach are both looking to bounce back after suboptimal years in 2020.

The former appeared in nine games (six started) during the shortened 2020 season, and had an alarming 9.68 ERA, 7.76 FIP and surrendered 14 home runs in just 30.2 innings pitched.  The latter had a 5.84 ERA and 6.68 FIP in 12.1 innings tossed.

Both players’ contracts run through the 2021 season.

To read more about McCann’s presser today, Tim Ryder of MetsMerized has you covered.