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Sep 23, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks catcher James McCann against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Chase Field. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Why Diamondbacks Must Re-Sign Veteran Catcher

Originally posted on Arizona Diamondbacks on SI
By Jack Sommers | Last updated Oct 5, 2025 8:01 PM ET

During their recent season-ending press conference with the media, the Arizona Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen and manager Torey Lovullo touched on numerous topics, including offseason priorities.

While the emphasis was on pitching, both starters and relievers, an oft-overlooked area was not discussed at all, that being backup catcher.

Why Having Strong Backup Catcher is Important for Diamondbacks

Backup catcher has been a weak spot on the roster for the Diamondbacks over the last several seasons. Gabriel Moreno is a terrific young player, one who is growing as a hitter and already has one Gold Glove under his belt from the 2023 season.

But he's been injury prone, and left a lot of starts and innings on the table. That makes the backup catcher all the more important to the Diamondbacks. In 2023 and 2024 Moreno dealt with soft tissue injuries (shoulder and groin) and in 2025 he suffered a broken index finger.

Moreno's games started and innings caught have been reduced each of the last two seasons. He's left a lot of innings on the table.

Jack Sommers

Struggles with Backup Catchers

Over the years the backup role behind Moreno has been filled with players that have rated out below average defensively.

Jose Herrera caught 1,077 innings and overall rated out to -2 Fielding Run Value per Statcast. He's a career .200 hitter with a 54 wRC+. He is now also a free agent, and his return to the Diamondbacks seems unlikely.

Tucker Barnhart, Carson Kelly, and Adrian Del Castillo have each picked up over 200 innings, and all rated negatively as well. Of those three, only Del Castillo hit well, in 2024, but was relegated to mostly DH at-bats when called up in 2025.

Enter James McCann

James McCann was toiling in the Atlanta Braves' minor league system at age 35 after a long career in the major leagues.

With an opportunity to play for the Diamondbacks, he was granted his release from Atlanta and signed with Arizona on June 23. It turns out signing McCan was in part due to input from injured starting pitcher Corbin Burnes.

McCann's bat had fallen off in recent years. Through age 30 he had a .249 career average with a .694 OPS, or 86 OPS+. Those are about average numbers for a catcher. By advanced metrics his defense rated about average.

But where he shined is in the areas of pitch-calling and handling pitchers, and the overall intangibles that are so important at the catcher position. As it turns out he was just what the Diamondbacks needed, and drew raves from all the pitching staff.

So much so that by the last two weeks of the season he had taken over the bulk of the starting catcher duties, starting nine of the final 14 games at catcher.

McCann's bat also saw a revival, as he hit .260 with a .754 OPS, that included five homers and 17 RBI in 137 PA.

A lot of that damage came during an early hot streak when he first joined the team. But even after his bat cooled down due to normal regression to the mean, he managed to deliver some big hits.

Diamondbacks Need to Resign James McCann

Simply put, after finally finding some stability at the position, the Diamondbacks need to find a way to bring him back. It should be too costly, but even if they have to play a million or two above backup catcher rates, it's critical that they do so.

There is no catcher waiting in the wings to come up and take that role. The team has clearly lost confidences in Adrian Del Castillo's catching abilities. The free agent market offers few backup level catchers that would be a better fit than McCann.

While not listed among the team's priorities, and with a reduced payroll, the positive impact McCann had on the pitching staff and the team overall merits strong consideration for a return, even if at a market value of $4 or $5 million.