![\"Brian](\"https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/AOH6bbWXSam3_ed1zjDr0NkHO3o=\/0x0:3264x2180\/320x0\/filters:focal(0x0:3264x2180):format(webp):no_upscale()\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/25833255\/151678807.jpg)
<\/picture> <\/span>On the surface, an impartial observer might think that McCann and the Hall of Fame is far-fetched. Through Wednesday, January 15, 2025, McCann was tracking less than the five-percent of the votes needed to remain on the ballot for 2026. If he does fall off the ballot, that will be a shame, because looking at his career through a technologically-focused lens, his career looks quite a bit more impressive. As a catcher – a position whose defensive impact has been historically difficult to quantify; and a position under represented in the Hall of Fame – there is an intriguing argument that his candidacy should be worth a longer-look in the years to come.<\/p>\n
First, the notable achievements.<\/p>\n
He was a seven-time All-Star, all with Atlanta, and a six-time Silver Slugger Award winner at catcher. He was also an All-Star Game MVP. He twice picked-up league MVP votes – once each in the National League and American League.<\/p>\n
From 2006 through 2015, he caught 108 games or more nine times, topping out at 138 games in 2008.<\/p>\n
He finished his career with 282 home runs, 1,018 RBI, 1,590 hits and 292 doubles all good for a 110 wRC+. Fangraphs give him credit for 52.1 fWAR in his career – including a four-year run of more than 6.0 fWAR per season beginning with his career-best 8.3 fWAR in 2008.<\/p>\n
As MLB.com\u2019s Mark Bowman noted in 2020, McCann was second in overall fWAR for catchers from 2005 through 2013. The only person he trailed was Joe Mauer, who was elected to the Hall of Fame last year.<\/p>\n
McCann\u2019s defense – and specifically his pitch framing – is where he makes a step-up toward induction. Throughout his career, he threw out 25-percent of runners attempting to steal and he is credited with 27 defensive runs saved behind the plate.<\/p>\n
Jay Jaffe, in his annual Fangraphs article on his Hall of Fame ballot, discusses the importance of framing to McCann\u2019s candidacy – and how he improved his skill dramatically after debuting as a 21-year-old. As noted by Jaffe, although McCann in 35th all time in traditional JAWS (the system Jaffe created to combine a player\u2019s overall performance with his seven-year peak), McCann jumps all the way to seventh when using the pitch-framing-inclusive JAWS.<\/p>\n
McCann\u2019s pitch-framing is also cited by Baseball America\u2019s JJ Cooper, who included McCann on his first Hall of Fame ballot. He noted that McCann, like fellow catcher Russell Martin, benefits from the technology available to quantify McCann\u2019s framing skills – technology not available for prior generations of catchers.<\/p>\n
There is no argument that Hall of Fame case for Brian McCann is nuanced. He doesn\u2019t have an MVP award nor a batting title – although he did bat .333 in 2006 – on his resume. But to outright dismiss McCann\u2019s viability is short-sighted – and that\u2019s not just a 2025 point-of-view. In 2019, Fangraphs took a deep dive McCann\u2019s career after he announced his retirement, and many of the points made then are still valid today.<\/p>\n
McCann will need 14 more ballots to avoid dropping off the ballot after this voting cycle. It will be one of the sub-plots Braves fans will keep an eye on along with the voting on fellow former Braves Andruw Jones and Billy Wagner, each of whom are tracking at-or-above the voting totals needed for election.<\/p>\n
If this is the only year on the Hall of Fame ballot for McCann, the Braves legend won\u2019t be the only deserving retired former ballplayer to be one-and-done. Just ask Kenny Lofton, Carlos Delgado or Jim Edmonds about that.<\/p>\n
Regardless of the outcome, McCann is undoubtedly one of best catchers of his generation and in the history of the Braves franchise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
He is one of the greatest catchers in Atlanta Braves history, but is he a Baseball Hall of Famer?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":26860,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\n