National League Contender Showing Late Interest in Former Chicago White Sox All-Star

After losing starting catcher Sean Murphy to an injury for at least the next month, James McCann is reportedly drawing interest from Atlanta.

Chicago White Sox catcher James McCann (33) hits a RBI single against the Minnesota Twins during the third inning at Guaranteed Rate Field in 2020. | Mike Dinovo-Imagn Images

After losing starting catcher Sean Murphy to injury for at least the next month, the Atlanta Braves are reportedly checking in on a pair of former Chicago White Sox catchers.

Per Jon Heyman of the New York Post, the Braves are kicking the tires on both Yasmani Grandal and James McCann.

The Braves are considering James McCann and Yasmani Grandal. For now Chadwick Tromp is their catcher with Sean Murphy out.

https://t.co/RTl2XmUHym. Friday MLB Notes: Yanks have interest in JD Martinez but not close to deal yet plus notes on Rice, Cease, Iggy, Helsley, Verdugo, Rizzo, Rose and much more

— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) March 7, 2025

The 34-year-old McCann is an 11-year veteran of the Detroit Tigers, White Sox, New York Mets and Baltimore Orioles. He is a lifetime .241 hitter with 92 homers and 373 RBI. He spent two years in Chicago, making the All-Star Game in 2019 as he hit .273 with 18 homers and 60 RBI. Both totals represented career-highs.

He helped lead the White Sox to the playoffs in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, but they were beaten in the first round by the Oakland Athletics.

McCann has regressed ever since leaving Chicago, hitting .232, .195, .222 and .234 in the next four years. He's also played more than 69 games just once since exiting the South Side.

As the Braves look for a Murphy replacement, it's unknown if McCann or Grandal would have a long-term future with the team, or if they'd just be viewed as stopgaps.

Grandal, a 36-year-old native of Cuba, is a 13-year veteran of the San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago White Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates.

He made the All-Star Game with the Dodgers in 2015 and the Brewers in 2019 before signing a big free agent deal with the White Sox before the 2020 season.

Though Chicago made the playoffs in both 2020 and 2021, Grandal hit just .226 on the South Side. Furthermore, he hit just 44 home runs, though it should be remembered that the 2020 season was only 60 games because of the pandemic. He hit 23 homers in 2021, but failed to hit more than eight in any of the other three seasons he was in Chicago.

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