Mets’ James McCann scratched from exhibition game with back tightness

PORT ST. LUCIE — James McCann missed more than two weeks last season with back spasms.

So when the Mets catcher felt his back tighten up on him Tuesday afternoon, he and the team took no chances, scratching him from its Grapefruit League game against the Astros at Clover Park.

“It’s something in-season I would have played through, but at this juncture of spring training, we all discussed it and it’s not worth it to push it,” McCann said. “Play it safe, that way we don’t have a repeat of what happened last year.”

McCann’s back issues last August included tightness that lingered long enough to force a stint on the injured list. While McCann, 31, would not specify whether he was experiencing the tightness in the same area this time around, he insisted it did not feel anywhere near the same.

“What happened last year was almost debilitating,” he said. “This was just something where it started to tighten up preliminarily and I didn’t want to push it.”

Manager Buck Showalter said the Mets would back off McCann until his back “settles down a little bit.”

“We’ll see how he manages the next couple days,” Showalter said.

Instead, the Mets inserted Tomas Nido into McCann’s spot in the lineup, meaning he caught Max Scherzer and Jacob deGrom starts on back-to-back days. Nido also has the advantage of having caught Scherzer during the offseason while they both worked out at the same facility in Florida, but Scherzer insisted Monday, “I’ll throw to any catcher.”

While Nido and McCann split the starting job equally at times last season, Showalter recently indicated that he was looking for McCann to regain the leading role.

“That was something last year,” Showalter said. “This year, and I got an open mind about it, I’m hoping he’s presenting himself as the guy that can be our catcher.”

McCann was often lauded for his work with the pitching staff last year, but his first season with the Mets after signing a four-year, $40.6 million contract was largely a disappointment because of his quiet bat. In 121 games, McCann hit just .232 with a 77 OPS-plus — a big step down from his combined 2019-2020 seasons, when he hit .276 with a 114 OPS-plus.

The addition of the DH in the National League and elevating the ball more could both help McCann bounce back this season. Last year, he most frequently batted eighth, meaning the pitcher was behind him and opponents could attack him differently. He also had the highest ground-ball rate of his career at 52.1 percent, according to Baseball Savant.

“He very quietly knows he’s capable of better,” Showalter said. “His season could allow us to really stretch out our lineup.”