Heading into the 2015 season, there was a great deal of excitement surrounding Detroit Tigers‘ catching prospect James McCann. In 2014, he had an extremely solid season with the Toledo Mud Hens, later earning a September call-up. It seemed to be a foregone conclusion that he would be heading north with the Tigers as their No. 2 catcher this year well before Spring Training even began.

When starter Alex Avila was placed on the DL in May, however, the stage was set for McCann to take the position and run with it. There now appears to be little doubt that McCann is the indeed the Tigers’ catcher of the future.

Through 114 games this year, McCann slashed a very respectable .264/.297/.387 with seven home runs and 41 RBIs. Of course, the on-base percentage was a little low and his walk rate sat at a mere 3.8 percent, but that should be something that will improve with time. He did do a pretty good job of putting the ball in play, though, posting a 21.2 percent K rate, which was only a hair above the league average of 20.4 percent.

McCann may also need to work on getting more comfortable against right-handed pitching, as he hit only .247/277/.332 against righties this year. Like his walk rate, however, the 25-year-old should improve in this area as he gains more experience.

The most impressive part of McCann’s game may have very well been the work that he did behind the plate. Through 112 games as the Tigers’ catcher, he threw out a whopping 41 percent of would-be basestealers, which was well above the league average of 32 percent. He also had a Fangraphs Def rating of 8.0.

All in all, McCann had a very solid rookie season, easily meeting or surpassing any reasonable set of expectations. He certainly appears to have the raw talent to eventually become an All-Star caliber backstop.

Brad Faber is a Senior Writer and Sabermetrics Columnist for www.RantSports.com, Follow him on Twitter @Brad_Faber or “Like” him on Facebook