The Atlanta Braves have released veteran catcher James McCann so that he could pursue a Major League contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks. According to MLB insider Ken Rosenthal, McCann, who turned 35 earlier this month, is heading to Arizona as their catcher, Gabriel Moreno, heads to the injured list with a right-hand contusion.

With Moreno's status unclear for the forseeable future, it makes sense to go get a proven product.

Rosenthal added that McCann’s minor-league deal with the Braves included a rolling opt-out. If another team offered him a major-league contract, the Braves either had to promote him to the active roster or let him leave.

Craig Kimbrel's minor-league offer had a similar stipulation in it.

The Braves signed McCann to a minor league deal midway through spring training in an effort to add catching depth to the system. At the time, it wasn't certain that the top prospect, Drake Baldwin, would head to the big leagues and platoon with Sean Murphy. They needed to figure out who would take the place of Travid d'Arnaud, who signed a two-year deal with the Angels over the offseason.

McCann didn't see any action in Spring Training. He played 42 games in the Braves minor league system, with 41 of them coming with Triple-A Gwinnett. He batted .305 with a .851 OPS with six home runs and 32 RBIs.

The last time the veteran catcher saw Major League action was last season with the Orioles. He backed up Adley Rutschman for two seasons in Baltimore, playing in 136 games and batting .228 with a .657 OPS.

He had his lone All-Star season in 2019 with the Chicago White Sox. It was the only non-COVID season, in which McCann was statically an above average player. He spent most of his major league career with the Detroit Tigers, playing there for five season from 2014 to 2018.