Kyle Joseph McCann (born December 2, 1997) is an American professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

and

first baseman A first baseman, abbreviated 1B, is the player on a baseball or softball team who fields the area nearest first base, the first of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. The first baseman is responsible for the majori ...

for the

Piratas de Campeche The Piratas de Campeche (English: Campeche Pirates) are a professional baseball team in the Mexican League (LMB) based in Campeche, Campeche, Mexico. History In 1980, the Alacranes de Durango moved to Campeche, and played their home games at Ven ...

of the

Mexican League The Mexican Baseball League (, or LMB, ) is a professional baseball league in Mexico. It is the oldest running professional sports league in the country. The league has 20 teams organized in two divisions, North and South. Teams play 114 games ...

. He has previously played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

. He was drafted in the fourth round of the 2019 MLB draft by Oakland after three seasons at

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

. Following his junior season, ''

Baseball America ''Baseball America'' (BA) is a sports publication company that covers baseball at every level, including Major League Baseball (MLB), with a particular focus on up-and-coming players in Minor League Baseball (MiLB) college, high school, and inte ...

'' named him a second team All-American as a

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as ...

. He was also named all-ACC first team catcher.

Amateur career

McCann attended Lambert High School in

Suwanee, Georgia Suwanee is a city in Gwinnett County and a part of the Atlanta metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 15,355; this had grown to an estimated 20,907 as of 2019. In 2020, its population was 20 ...

, and

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

for the

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets is the name used for all of the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The teams have also been nicknamed the ...

from 2017 through 2019. During his first two seasons at Georgia Tech, he played first base as

Joey Bart Joseph Andrew Bart (born December 15, 1996) is an American professional baseball catcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has previously played in MLB for the San Francisco Giants. Bart played college baseball for th ...

was already established at catcher. Following his sophomore season, he was named to the all-ACC third team. Following the 2018 season, he played

collegiate summer baseball Collegiate summer baseball leagues are amateur baseball leagues in the United States and Canada featuring players who have attended at least one year of college and have at least one year of athletic eligibility remaining. Generally, they operat ...

for the

Chatham Anglers The Chatham Anglers, more commonly referred to as the Chatham A's and formerly the Chatham Athletics, are a collegiate summer baseball team based in Chatham, Massachusetts. The team is a member of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) and plays in ...

in the

Cape Cod Baseball League The Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL or Cape League) is a collegiate summer baseball wooden bat league located on Cape Cod in the U.S. state of Massachusetts. One of the nation's premier collegiate summer leagues, the league boasts over 1,000 forme ...

. For the 2019 season, he moved to catcher was subsequently named to the all-ACC first team and a second-team All-American by

. He was also one of three finalists for the

Buster Posey Award The Buster Posey Award, formerly known as the Johnny Bench Award, was created in 2000 to honor college baseball's top catcher in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The award is administered by the Wichita Sports Commis ...

, which honors best catcher in NCAA Division I.

Professional career

Oakland Athletics

Minor leagues

The

selected McCann in the fourth round of the

2019 Major League Baseball draft The 2019 Major League Baseball draft was held from June 3 to 5, 2019. The draft assigned amateur baseball players to MLB teams. The draft order was set based on the reverse order of the 2018 MLB season standings. In addition, compensation picks ...

. After he signed, the Athletics assigned him to

Vermont Lake Monsters The Vermont Lake Monsters are a collegiate summer baseball team located in Burlington, Vermont, United States, who were founded in 1994 as the Vermont Expos. They were members of Minor League Baseball, in the New York–Penn League (NYPL), ...

. Appearing in 55 games, McCann hit only .192. In five games with the

Arizona Complex League Athletics The Arizona Complex League Athletics are a Minor League Baseball team based in Mesa, Arizona, which plays as a Rookie-level team in the Arizona Complex League and has served as a farm team for the Athletics organization since 1988. They play thei ...

, he hit two home runs with .400 average. Following the cancellation of the 2020 minor league season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, McCann was named to the A's 60 player training pool. To start his first full professional season in 2021, McCann was assigned to the Double A

Midland RockHounds The Midland RockHounds are a Minor League Baseball team based in Midland, Texas. The team, which plays in the Texas League, is the Double-A affiliate of the Athletics major league club. The RockHounds play in Momentum Bank Ballpark, which ope ...

, where he hit .166 over 93 games at both first base and catcher. In 2022, he spent most of the season at Midland but also appeared in 7 games for the Triple-A

Las Vegas Aviators The Las Vegas Aviators, formerly known as the Las Vegas 51s and Las Vegas Stars, are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Athletics. They are located in Summerlin South, Nevada, a comm ...

. He hit 21 home runs while batting .234 for the season across both teams. In 2023, McCann was a non-roster invitee to the team's spring training. During that time, observers noted that McCann had significantly improved from the prior season, with the

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

calling McCann "the A's most improved player in spring training." He was believed to be the most likely back-up catcher on the main roster before being leapfrogged during the final week of spring training by veteran Carlos Perez. He subsequently played the entire season in Las Vegas, hitting .270 with 17 home runs in 97 games. Defensively, he played primarily at catcher (60 games) while making 10 appearances at first base. He also appeared in 27 games at

. He spent much of the year sharing catching duties with top prospect Tyler Soderstrom.

Major leagues

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, McCann was again a non-roster invitee to the spring training roster competing for a back-up spot behind

Shea Langeliers Shea Ryan Langeliers (born November 18, 1997) is an American professional baseball catcher for the Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB). He made his MLB debut in 2022. He played college baseball for the Baylor Bears. Early life and amateur c ...

. On March 28, the Athletics selected his contract and added him to their

Opening Day Opening Day is the day on which professional baseball leagues begin their regular season. For Major League Baseball (MLB) and most of the American minor leagues, this day typically falls during the first week of April, although in recent year ...

roster. In his MLB debut on March 30, McCann went 0-for-2 in four plate appearances, walking twice. He also drove in a run and struck out twice. In 54 games during his rookie campaign, McCann batted .236/.318/.371 with five home runs and 15 RBI. He was

designated for assignment Designated for assignment (DFA) is a contractual term used in Major League Baseball (MLB). A player who is designated for assignment is immediately removed from the team's 40-man roster, after which the team must, within seven days, return the pla ...

by the Athletics following the acquisition of Jhonny Pereda on January 30, 2025. McCann cleared waivers and was sent outright to Triple-A Las Vegas on February 5. He was released by the organization on March 23.

Piratas de Campeche

On May 9, 2025, McCann signed with the

of the

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCann, Kyle 1997 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Arizona League Athletics players Baseball players from Atlanta Baseball players from Gwinnett County, Georgia Chatham Anglers players Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets baseball players Harrisonburg Turks players Las Vegas Aviators players Major League Baseball catchers Major League Baseball first basemen Midland RockHounds players Oakland Athletics players Piratas de Campeche players Vermont Lake Monsters players