ANAHEIM, Calif. -- The unofficial successor to Alex Rodriguez as Yankees designated hitter didn't seem too interested in talking about his contributions to a 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday night.

Brian McCann didn't even mention his two-out, two-run single in the first inning, which was big at the time. And for a guy who can be pretty funny, he didn't throw out any one-liners making fun of his wheels on a night he stole his first base since he was with the Atlanta Braves in 2012.

What McCann wanted to talk up during his brief post-game interview were the Yankees' young guns, which once again was the fuel that made this a winning night.

McCann acted as if he could have talked all night about rookie right-hander Luis Cessa, who worked six shutout innings in his first big-league start even though it was Gary Sanchez behind the plate calling the game.

And while not mentioning Sanchez by name, McCann made it clear that he's having a blast watching all of the Yankees kids try to help make something of a season that is on life support because of the old regime.

He's loved watching 6-foot-8, 270-pound right fielder Aaron Judge, a big leaguer as of last weekend, homer in his first two games.

He likes what he's seen from just-up-from-Triple-A first baseman Tyler Austin, who homered in his first big-league at-bat last weekend one batter before Judge did the same.

He really likes the two rookies who are new to the Yankees rotation, Cessa and Chad Green, whose last start was pretty special, too ... six shutout innings, 11 strikeouts and no walks in a 1-0 win over AL-East leading Toronto last Monday night at Yankee Stadium.

Oh, and the guy that McCann seems to be most fond about is the one who has come up from Triple-A a little more than two weeks ago and stole his job. Sanchez is a beast at the plate and behind the plate, and he showed off both talents in Saturday's win by hitting first-inning homer, No. 6 in his 15 games, by getting the most out of Cessa and by picking a runner off first base with his cannon right arm.

Summing up everything he's taken in over the last two weeks, McCann smiled and said, "These guys aren't coming up to just fill spots. These guys are coming up to be impact baseball players hitting in the middle of the order, starting big games and it's great to see."

That's quite an endorsement, and it's impressive that McCann is embracing management's decision to go young even though it likely means his days as a Yankees starting catcher are over.

His days as a Yankee probably are short, too, even though he's under contract for $17 million per in 2017 and 2018 with a full no-trade clause.

There were hot rumors just before this year's July 31 trade deadline that the Braves wanted McCann back to help sell tickets for their move to a new ballpark next season. Nothing happened, but look for this to get done after the season, although the Yankees surely will have to pay most of the remaining money and perhaps a $15 million club option for 2019, too, to get McCann to agree to a deal.

Meantime, McCann is having fun adapting to DH while watching Sanchez play like a young Johnny Bench behind the plate.

"I'm getting used to it more and more," said McCann, a .248 hitter this season with 16 homers and 48 RBIs in 97 games. "It took me a while, probably four or five days to get a routine down, but it's coming along. It's almost like every at-bat is a pinch-hit. You're inside hitting."

McCann probably already misses working with pitchers during games, especially the two rookies. No matter, sitting in the Yankees dugout on Saturday night and watching Cessa do his thing was pretty enjoyable.

"I thought he changed speeds extremely well with his heater," McCann said. "Early in the game he was throwing 91-92. When he reached back, he was hitting 97-98. When you can change speeds like that and change eye levels with that slider he had and the changeup ... he had everything going tonight. That was an unbelievable performance he put on. He made some guys look bad."

A lot of new Yankees who are just up from Triple-A have been doing that.

"This is the best young group I've seen," McCann said.

Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @RandyJMiller. Find NJ.com on Facebook.