How was he acquired?
The Braves chose McCabe in the fourth round of the 2022 draft, spending the 125th overall pick on the switch-hitting corner infielder out of the University of Charlotte. McCabe received a signing bonus of $476,400
In his final season with Charlotte, McCabe swatted 16 homers to go along with an OPS of 1.297.
What were the expectations for 2025?
Coming into 2025, the main focus for McCabe boiled down to two things: staying healthy, and simply getting back into the swing of things.
After undergoing Tommy John surgery in February 2024, McCabe was only able to suit up for 35 games with Mississippi, posting an abysmal slash line of .137/.284/.214 in 117 at-bats.
While those numbers weren’t too alarming considering he was coming off major surgery, it put a lot of question marks for McCabe’s 2025 campaign. McCabe needed to bounce back from his surgery in a big way, and his 2025 season panned out better than anticipated.
2025 results
As mentioned above, McCabe came out of the gate swinging with Columbus and he never looked back. In 105 games with the Clingstones, McCabe tallied 10 homers to go along with 52 RBI en route to an OPS of .813. Just posting those numbers on their own would have been a huge win for McCabe. However, his season continued to get better, as he was promoted to triple-A Gwinnett on Aug. 18.
While with the Stripers, McCabe suited up for 28 games, adding four homers to his season total and posting a .719 OPS as well. McCabe did seem somewhat overpowered in his limited sample size with Gwinnett, as he struck out 32 times in just 98 at-bats. However, there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic moving forward.
2026 outlook
McCabe is all but certain to head back to triple-A after spring training comes to a close. The main focus will be to see if he can replicate his double-A success at Gwinnett and, if so, that bodes very well for McCabe and Atlanta, which is in desperate need of positional prospects stepping up.
As for McCabe’s future, it’s hard to see a direct path to solid playing time at the big league level, as Matt Olson and Austin Riley have the corner infield covered for the foreseeable future. There is the possibility that McCabe could be tried out in a corner outfield slot, most likely left field, in spring training and early on in triple-A, just to give him some defensive flexibility.
It’s not an entirely outlandish proposal, as McCabe is very athletic and versatile, and he even suited up at shortstop for a handful of games in college.
All-in-all, if McCabe forces Atlanta’s hand, they’ll obviously find a slot for him in the lineup. However, unless it’s a fill-in role at first or third base, or perhaps as DH, McCabe figures to spend most of the year with Gwinnett, with his eyes on a bigger role in Atlanta in 2027.
