ATLANTA -- When the Braves traded Johnny Estrada in December, they showed Brian McCann they were fully confident in his ability to be their everyday catcher. But even McCann couldn't have foreseen his capability to be as productive as he was during his first full Major League season.

McCann's impressive offensive output was rewarded again on Friday afternoon, when Louisville Slugger announced that he'd captured his first Silver Slugger Award. The Braves catcher was one of 13 first-time winners for this honor, which recognizes the best offensive performer at each position from both the American and National Leagues.

"This is a great honor," McCann said. "Going into the season, I never expected I would win the Silver Slugger Award, especially in my second year. I'm proud of the season I had and the work I put in, but it also seemed as if things just went my way at the plate. Every bloop seemed to fall in and the hard-hit balls found a hole instead being right at someone. The individual awards are nice, but I'm looking forward to helping the Braves get back into the playoffs next season -- that's our priority."

During the first 23 years that Silver Slugger Awards were presented, no Braves catcher won. McCann now becomes the third different Braves catcher over the span of the past four years to receive the coveted honor. Javy Lopez won in 2003 and Estrada in 2004.

Having never hit as high as .300 in either of his two full Minor League seasons, McCann, who made his Major League debut on June 10, 2005, was joyfully surprised to prove so consistent this past season. The young catcher batted .333, slugged 24 homers and contributed 94 RBIs. In addition, he had a .388 on-base percentage and a .572 slugging percentage.

McCann, who was selected to compete in his first All-Star Game in July, finished just 10 plate appearances shy of reaching the qualifying number that would have allowed him to have finish third in the National League batting race.

In order to qualify, a player must record 502 plate appearances. The .333 batting average he produced in his 492 plate appearances would have trailed only Pittsburgh's Freddy Sanchez (.344) and Florida's Miguel Cabrera (.339).

McCann's plate appearance total was affected when he suffered a sprained right ankle during a collision at the plate on May 20. He wasn't able to return to regular action until June 9 and really never regained all of his strength until after the All-Star break.

Still, McCann led all Major League catchers in homers and slugging percentage, and his RBI total was matched only by the Yankees' Jorge Posada and Cleveland's Victor Martinez.

When it came time for managers and coaches to vote for the Silver Slugger Award, they were stacking McCann simply against NL catchers and there was little competition. Along with posting the top batting average, slugging percentage and homer total among all Senior Circuit catchers, he also recorded 22 more RBIs than any of them.

"He had a great year," Jeff Francoeur said of his teammate. "I couldn't be happier for him. He worked hard and he deserves it. I would expect that kind of year from him every year. I don't see why he couldn't do it."

Added Chipper Jones: "I think you saw Brian McCann is going to be a solid Major League hitter. He's going to compete for batting titles. He was tremendous this year."

McCann was one of seven members of a National League East team to garner an NL Silver Slugger Award. Others included Philadelphia's Ryan Howard and Chase Utley; New York's Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes; Washington's Alfonso Soriano; and Florida's Miguel Cabrera.

The other two NL recipients were Chicago's Carlos Zambrano and Colorado's Matt Holliday.

Louisville Slugger's Silver Slugger Award winners were determined by a vote of Major League Baseball coaches and managers. The voters selected the players they felt were the best offensive producers at each position in both the American and National League in 2006.

Selections were based on a combination of offensive statistics including batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage, as well as the coaches' and managers' general impressions of a player's overall offensive value. Managers and coaches were not allowed to vote for players on their own team.

The Silver Slugger Award will be presented to each player by a representative of the Hillerich & Bradsby Co., makers of Louisville Slugger, the Official Bat of Major League Baseball, in a ceremony early in the 2006 season.

The trophy is three feet tall and bears the engraved name of the winner and his Silver Slugger teammates in his respective league. The Silver Slugger Award was instituted by H&B in 1980 as a natural extension of the Silver Bat Award which is, as its name indicates, a silver-plated bat presented by Louisville Slugger to the batting champions in the AL and NL.