(670 The Score) In his first season with the White Sox after spending the past five years with the American League Central rival Tigers, catcher James McCann has had an easy time noticing the progress of his new team.
He was reminded of it again in the past week. After the White Sox were drilled and non-competitive in getting swept by the Twins last weekend, they responded with a season-best four-game winning streak, which they'll carry into a contest against the Indians at Guaranteed Rate Field on Friday evening.
McCann believes it's a sign of the White Sox's growth from a mental standpoint as much as anything.
"It's a lot of fun," McCann said on the Laurence Holmes Show on 670 The Score on Thursday afternoon. "That's the big thing I've noticed, is that you have a very good mix of young players and young talent with some veteran guys that have been around and seen things. So that mix has allowed guys to kind of relax and not stress about losing three in a row to Minnesota and understand that we went on a tough road trip and took two out of four from Houston and didn't play our best baseball. But not playing your best baseball over three days doesn't define your season or your next week, and being able to bounce back, it's a lot of fun."
The White Sox improved to 27-29 with a 10-4 win against the Indians on Thursday evening. They're 10.5 games back of the AL Central-leading Twins and two games back of the second AL wild-card spot.
While no one is expecting a playoff push for the White Sox, McCann believes an interesting, competitive summer should await so long as they stay on their current track.
"We're definitely on the right path," McCann said. "I think we're a lot closer than what people want to talk about. The development of guys like Tim Anderson and (Yoan) Moncada, then (Lucas) Giolito is coming on the scene in a big way this year and then you got guys who are going to be coming back from injury next year with (Michael) Kopech and (Carlos) Rodon, I think it's a very special group that's starting to come together here on the South Side."
McCann has been a key reason for the team's improvement, handling a young pitching staff deftly and batting .346 with a .907 OPS in 36 games to draw All-Star consideration. He just tries to be himself every day.
"The biggest thing is, one, leading by example," McCann said. "I don't care if you've been somewhere for 15 years or it's your first day on the job, you can't talk the talk and not walk the walk. That's where it first starts, is just the way about the way you go about your business, the way you handle yourself and the way that you handle your own daily tasks. But the other thing is showing that you care. That's the most important part. And it's not that you care about your own personal success but that you care about other guys' success on the field and off the field, caring about what's going in someone's life away from the game and how their family is and everything that everyone is going through and being that guy truly does care for each individual."
