The Next Carlton Fisk

I'm told there's a publication out there somewhere that I.J. Rosenberg, former AJC Braves beat writer, is presently writing for. I haven't found it -- anyone out there who knows about it would be doing me a big favor by letting me know what it's called and where to find it.

The reason for my interest is that he evidently penned a column a couple of weeks ago about Brian McCann, in which McCann is compared favorably to Fisk. That's high praise, maybe too high, but there's no doubt that to watch McCann is too see the burgeoning of a special player. With apologies to Edgar Renteria and Andruw Jones, McCann, at age 22, has been the most impressive Brave so far this season.

The stats tell the story of what he's done to this point, but watching him hit reveals that his hot start is more than just that -- he just plain knows what he's doing. He hits line drives all over the park, and seems to do so every day. He knows when he can dump a ball into left field, and seems happy to do just that. He hits LHPs even better than RHPs, at least to this point. And he displays a patient approach -- he hasn't walked very much, but he's willing to wait for a pitch to drive, and he drives a whole lot of pitches.

His numbers last year compare favorably to the age-21 stats of a couple of catchers you might have heard of -- Ivan Rodriguez and Mike Piazza. And while these names represent a pretty lofty ceiling, he hasn't done anything to show that he isn't capable of that kind of career. He's the best young player we've brought up since Andruw, and all this is a prelude to the suggestion that Jarrod Saltalamacchia might want to try on a first baseman's mitt, or else consider what other team he might end up playing for.