Colorado Rockies Sign Former A's Catcher After Impressive Showing
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The Colorado Rockies are pretty set at catcher, with one of their best players being backstop Hunter Goodman. That isn't stopping them from bringing in some depth to compete for a backup role.
This week the Rockies brought in former Athletics catcher Kyle McCann, according to MLB.com's Thomas Harding. Braxton Fulford is currently slotted in as Colorado's backup catcher according to Roster Resource, though in 38 games last season he hit .213 with a .267 OBP and struck out 30% of the time across 120 plate appearances.
This could mean that there is an opening for McCann, or someone else, to get a look in the Rockies lineup on occasion.
What McCann brings
McCann made his MLB debut back in 2024 after being selected by the Athletics in the fourth round of the 2019 draft. In that rookie campaign, he made it into 54 games and received 157 plate appearances, walking an impressive 10.2% of the time. He also hit .236 with a .318 OBP and struck out at a pretty high 37.6% clip.
His career highlight to date has to be the go-ahead home run he hit against Baltimore Orioles closer Craig Kimbrel that propelled the A's to victory.
He finished with a 102 wRC+, which is solid for a player in his rookie season that wasn't playing consistently. That said, he also played a whole lot less in the second half of the season as his production dipped from a solid start. He went from 106 plate appearances in the first half, to just 51 in post-break.
After hitting .293 in that initial burst in the big leagues, he ended up going just 6-for-48 (.125) the rest of the way, and was striking out at a 47.1% clip.
Last spring the A's decided to go with Jhonny Pereda as their backup to Shea Langeliers to begin the season, and McCann ended up being released in late March.
McCann's impressive showing
Last season McCann didn't latch on with a big-league club, even on a minor-league deal. Instead, he ended up signing with Piratas de Campeche in the independent Mexican League, and was teammates with former A's slugger Chris Carter, and former A's pitchers Sean Nolin and Domingo Acevedo. Former Rockies pitcher Zac Rosscup was also a part of this roster.
In McCann's short time with the club, he ended up batting a solid .319 with a .450 OBP and a 1.061 OPS, hitting eight home runs and driving in 34 RBI in his 32 games with the team. Obviously this is the Mexican League and not the big leagues, but this is still an impressive showing. The Rockies felt it was worthy of a flier minor-league contract.
Biggest competition for playing time
As we mentioned before, Braxton Fulford is the projected backup to Hunter Goodman in Colorado, though Fulford is also projected to be a platoon bat used to face left-handed pitching.
Based solely off of the number of right-handed pitchers versus lefties in the majors, it would seem wise to have a left-handed bat in the mix if you're looking for a platoon partner. That way, when Goodman needs a rest after a couple of games, the likelihood would be that there will be a right-hander on the mound that day.
McCann is a left-handed bat, which could be the opening he needs.
Also in the mix for Colorado is veteran backstop Brett Sullivan, 31, who has a total of 43 games played and 112 plate appearances in the big leagues spread across two teams in three seasons. He's hit .204 with a .250 OBP and a 50 wRC+ in that span. Sullivan is also a left-handed bat.
McCann could have a real chance at earning some time behind Goodman this year, though how quickly he learns the pitching staff and whether or not he's been able to fix the issues that were plaguing him during the second half of the 2024 campaign will be the determining factors.
A hot spring could land him in Colorado.
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Jason has been covering the A’s at various sites for over a decade, and was the original host of the Locked on A’s podcast. He also covers the Stanford Cardinal as they attempt to rebuild numerous programs to prominence.
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