McCann Feels bird’s pain
Catcher proof Bird can return to form after shoulder surgery
B RIAN McCann could serve as inspiration and role model to Greg Bird that a lefty power hitter can return from a torn labrum in his right shoulder.
No two injuries or shoulders are exactly the same, so how Bird rehabs from the surgery that was performed Tuesday morning by Dr. David Altchek at the Hospital for Special Surgery will determine the first baseman’s future.
But McCann’s result is encouraging because he not only had to rehab after similar surgery to hit for power again, but to throw as a catcher. He did so well that a year after the surgery the Yankees gave him a fiveyear, $85 million contract.
“Once it healed up, it was ready to go,” McCann said by phone. “I had to grind through [the 2013 season] with some pain, but it kept getting better and better. It is a tough surgery to have, but if you are not a pitcher, I really do think if you do the rehab you can come back easily.”
McCann underwent his sur gery on Oct. 16, 2012, not long after the Braves were eliminated in the NL wildcard game. He returned as Atlanta’s regular catcher on May 6, 2013 — just shy of seven months after the procedure. He signed with the Yankees after that 2013 campaign.
“It hurt me more to throw than to hit when I came back,” McCann said. “If I did not have to catch, I feel I could have come back sooner.”
The Yankees are saying Bird is out for the season, which is probably wise in getting Bird to avoid rushing his rehab and/or putting pressure on himself to return. But if he took the same 202 days as McCann did, from surgery to first major league game, Bird would be available on Aug. 22. And, as McCann said, he believes he would have come back earlier if he did not need to catch.
McCann was an established major leaguer, who needed just seven minor league re hab games in 2013 before rejoining the Braves. Bird has played just 47 major league games (including last year’s wildcard tilt). So even if he fully rehabbed in a similar 200ish days, Bird would be returning close to when the minor league season would be ending. There would be questions over whether he could get enough plate appearances to be ready to help the Yankees in September when the rosters expand.
Brian Cashman continues to publicly offer a conservative approach to Bird’s injury and did not want to project how quickly or successfully Bird might recover based on a previous case such as McCann’s.
“I go off of what the doctors say, and they are very optimistic that [Bird] will return to form,” Cashman said. “Any previous study, either way, doesn’t influence me. Let’s just see how it plays out.”