Astros: Brian McCann hits the DL a second time with knee injury

Max Stassi will be the Astros primary catcher while Brian McCann hits the DL for the second time this year.

The Astros get some disappointing news with Brian McCann, via Jake Kaplan. Their starting catcher will hit the 10-day DL for a second time this year with a sore knee. While most teams might be devastated with this news, Max Stassi has had a breakout season offensively as the backup catcher. Now he becomes the primary catcher again.

Stassi will start again.

The catching position is weak across the American League, with Gary Sanchez on the DL but batted .190. Some may say that Stassi could be selected as a backup catcher for the All-Star team. Splitting time with McCann, Stassi is batting .255 with seven homers and 22 RBI. The batting average has taken a dip recently, batting .188 over the past  14 days. These stats are via Baseball-Reference.

Stassi has not only impressed at the plate but has done a good job pitch framing. One thing that Stassi struggles with is preventing the stolen base, allowing 21 steals in 27 attempts. We may see some more runners take advantage of Stassi’s 22% caught stealing rate via Baseball-Reference.

McCann is batting .206 with five homers and 17 homers. His OPS is a career low of .606, but he could recover if his knee allows him. With the start to the 2018 season, the catching situation seemed strong for the Astros. If this injury lingers, then it could become an issue for the Astros.

A second chance for Fiedorowicz.

For now, the Astros have called up Tim Federowicz to back up Stassi. Federowicz is batting .328 with six homers and 22 RBI in Triple-A. This will be his second time being added to the 40-man roster. Last time that McCann was activated, Fedorowicz passed through waivers as he is out of options. Hopefully, Fedorowicz will perform well this time around, as he has been labeled an AAAA player.

This year, Fedorowicz batted .143 with one hit in his seven at-bats earlier with the Astros. With Federowicz getting the call, it may mean that it is a minor injury to McCann. Garrett Stubbs is performing well, but they may want for him to develop more in Triple-A. Plus, Stubbs was selected to the Pacific Coast All-Star Game.

Next: Alex Bregman named AL Player of the Month

If McCann’s injury woes continue and Stassi takes a step back, we could hear some Astros catcher trade rumors. Could they kick the tires on J.T. Realmuto? We will find out when we learn more about McCann’s situation. Stassi should handle the catching situation well while McCann is out.