Caught of potential base stealers Tampa Bay Was named to his seventh career All-Star game also , replacing injured teammate Freddie Freeman.
Philadelphia in the bottom of the second inning with a right adductor strain… missed the Braves' final four regular season games. Was selected by Atlanta in the second round of the draft His father, Howard, is a former baseball coach at Howard University Received a Thurman Munson Award for his success on the field and philanthropic efforts in the community Was the Yankees Hank Aaron Award nominee Is entering the fourth year of a five-year contract he signed with the Yankees prior to the season McCann was 21 years old when he broke into the big leagues on June 10, , with the Atlanta Braves.
His biographical data, year-by-year hitting stats, fielding stats, pitching stats where applicable , career totals, uniform numbers, salary data and miscellaneous items-of-interest are presented by Baseball Almanac on this comprehensive Brian McCann baseball stats page. Manager Joe Girardi also heaped praise on the seven-time All-Star, who hit. A catcher who's a capable defender and threat at the plate is hard to find, Girardi said.
He's a middle-of-the-order hitter. His power in this ballpark should work very well. Davey Lopes. The baseball family quickly mobilized with the Salazar family, pulling together tightly, like the webbing of a glove. When the New York Mets showed up to play the Braves that spring in Orlando, manager Terry Collins wanted to bring his entire team by the hospital to show them the courage of his friend.
As you might expect, the hospital folks said, eh, maybe that's not the best idea to crowd that many people in. The man is still in recovery. And he tells me, 'I got that picture in my mind. I thought you were dead. I got at least letters wishing me well, saying, 'I know you're going to get back on your feet and do well.
As he works today, others tell him they have tried to put themselves in his cleats. It's easy, right? And human nature. To close one eye after meeting a man with one eye, to see what it might be like for him. It is a challenge the rest of us can replicate, if only for a minute or two.
Close one eye and That's the thing. Salazar has made so much look so easy. The accident happened in early March , and he was back in camp before the Braves headed north that spring. Most people take two or three months off from work. He was back like nothing happened. If only that swing and its aftermath could be wiped from the hard drive of Brian McCann's brain.
While Salazar draws blanks from the moment of impact until the moment he woke up in the hospital, McCann remembers far too much. And you cannot help but feel for him, even all these years later. He lights up at the mention of Salazar's name: Really, you're going to visit him? Say hello. Give him my best. But he also goes dark at one specific question: Obviously, Brian, it wasn't your fault, and there is nobody anywhere who would ever think of blaming you.
Yet, even at that, all these years later Maybe he's right. Maybe it is one question too far, or too awkwardly phrased, or simply something that pokes just a little too deeply into the worst moment of a goodman's well-decorated career. He is Georgia-bred, which means he pretty much grew up with the Braves. They picked him in the second round of the draft, plucking him from Duluth High School in Georgia.
Baseball always was a way of life: His father, Howard, coached at Marshall University. His older brother, Brad, was a first baseman in the Marlins and Royals organizations.
Vividly, the Braves remember this part of Salazar's accident, too. The McCann part, where the poor guy felt so horrible that he would have given anything he could to take that swing back. Is there a more helpless, or desperate, feeling than in the moments after a devastating accident? Chandler has known McCann since the catcher was 18 years old, all the way back to those days after the draft when the world of professional baseball was still new and bright. He knows him to be tough and strong. But he also knows the sensitive side that McCann allows few others to see.
After the ambulance carried Salazar toward the helicopter, McCann settled back into the batter's box to finish what now was a horrific at-bat. Two-strike count, McCann quickly waved at a pitch for strike three, then took himself out of the game and hustled back into the clubhouse.
Well-meaning, because you don't know what is going on there. Says Teheran: "He left the game, and the next day he didn't show up at the ballpark because he was really, really worried about Luis. To McCann today, so much of it is all still a blur. He remembers rushing to the hospital. Recalls sitting there praying for good news, waiting for any news. Knowing this was a high-profile accident involving a Major League Baseball team, the folks at the Orlando Regional Medical Center set aside a special, private waiting area outside the emergency room for McCann, Chandler, the Salazar family, Cox, Braves president John Schuerholz and a few others.
First thing McCann did upon arrival was walk straight up to Graciela and, through his tears, wrap her in the biggest hug he could muster. Granted, she was upset, but she was so strong and full of grace that you just don't see every day. Around this time, the first bit of good news arrived: Doctors knew Luis would live. That was the first enormous deep breath. Then came news that though there was severe damage to his eye, Salazar's brain was OK.
You can do all of the extra pregame work you want, but there is no preparing for a baseball moment like that. And while those well-meaning people were warning him against racing to the hospital, McCann would change nothing about that decision. That's another part of this story, to me, that goes unnoticed. He is a sensitive young man who obviously felt horrible, and instead of going to the corner and crying and feeling sorry for himself, he said, 'I've got to do the right thing.
Even though he no longer plays in Atlanta, the affinity the Braves family has for him is clear. And vice versa. The outfielder, you see, is Salazar's son-in-law. They married in and delivered Luis and Graciela their first grandson, Xavier, in Usually, McCann will hit Gutierrez with a quick question from behind the plate when the outfielder steps in to hit.
How's Luis? Still doing well? There is no psychological blueprint on how to handle the destruction when you're the one who drives a baseball into another human being. Pujols, who phoned Salazar multiple times after the accident, knows this all too well. Three seasons earlier, Pujols smoked a line drive up the middle during the third inning of a game in San Diego that crashed into pitcher Chris Young's face.
Young suffered a fractured skull and broken nose. Badly shaken when he batted again in the fourth with the bases loaded, Pujols struck out on three pitches and later was removed from the game by La Russa. The next day, as the Cardinals traveled up the freeway to Los Angeles, a concerned Pujols, still unable to shake off the night before, phoned Young.
As with McCann, it's nobody's fault; it's just a bad part of the game. Maybe the most horrible part of the game. But still, guilt worms its way into the psyche.
I've learned not to take anything for granted.
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