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ANDREW McCUTCHEN, CORNER OUTFIELDER
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| Born: October 10, 1986 Height: 5’11” Weight: 195 Bats: Right Throws: Right Drafted: 1st Round, 11th Overall, 2005 How Acquired: Free Agent High School: Fort Meade (FL) HS Agent: Aegis Sports Management |
WTM’S PLAYER PROFILE |
| The 11th overall pick in the 2005 draft, once he reached Pittsburgh McCutchen quickly established himself as the face of the franchise. He led the Pirates out of their 20-year losing streak and into the playoffs from 2013-15, winning an MVP award in the process, so his stature among Pirate fans is easy to imagine. He even still lives in Pittsburgh. In his prime, McCutchen hit for average and power, with good plate discipline. As a major leaguer, he’s always had an outstanding ability to avoid chasing outside the strike zone. For most of his career, he’s had large platoon splits, often destroying LHPs while hitting reasonably well against RHPs. In more recent years he hasn’t hit RHPs especially well and has been up and down against LHPs. Defensively, the metrics haven’t been too enamored of McCutchen, especially in center field, although he won a Gold Glove in 2012. He’s always had near-elite sprint speed, even at age 35, but gets well-below-average jumps. His arm is below average. He switched to the outfield corners temporarily in 2017, then for good in 2018.
In 2016 McCutchen started to hit some extended slumps, although he generally bounced back. By 2018 it was clear that he wasn’t the same hitter he’d been, although he remained good. The Pirates traded him after the 2017 season; altogether he’s played for the Giants, Yankees, Phillies and Brewers. The Pirates signed him to a one-year deal for 2023. 2005 Went to the GCL after signing and did well. He spent the last two weeks in the New York-Penn League and hit .346. At both stops he walked more than he struck out. 2006 Had a good season in low A, answering some of the questions about his power by hitting 14 HRs. He had a very streaky season, batting .344 in April, eventually slumping to .202 in June, then rebounding to .331 in July and August. McCutchen acknowledged that he tended to get impatient when he wasn’t getting good pitches to hit. The Pirates moved him all the way up to AA for the last three weeks and he hit even better there, with three more HRs to give him 17 on the year. 2007 McCutchen spent the season at Altoona and struggled most of the year until coming around in August. He had a lot of trouble laying off sliders away. Mainly due to that one issue, his career minor league OPS is over 200 points lower against RHPs than against LHPs. Despite his struggles, the Pirates moved him up to AAA for 17 games at the end of the year and he hit better there. 2008 In AAA, McCutchen had a better season, although his power tended to come in bursts and then disappear for long periods. He hit five HRs in April and then only four more afterward. 2009 Had a strong spring in 2009, but the Pirates made it clear from the start he was headed back to AAA for at least a little while. It’s hard to escape the conclusion that they wanted to make sure he doesn’t qualify as a “super-two” while also putting off free agency by a year. He got off to a good start, posting an .853 OPS through 49 games and showing more power than before, although his platoon split was bigger than ever. When the Pirates traded Nate McLouth to Atlanta at the beginning of June, they called McCutchen up and he immediately became the team’s best player and its most exciting since Barry Bonds. He hit for more power than expected and showed good plate discipline from the start. He showed a flair for the dramatic, with several key, late-inning hits, including a walkoff HR and another walkoff hit, in the team’s infrequent wins. He also had a three-HR game. 2010 Had a mildly disappointing season. Early on, he appeared to be stepping up to another level. In mid-May, his OPS got as high as .926, but he slumped to .661 in July and .732 in August. It’s hard not to wonder whether McCutchen had trouble maintaining his focus while playing for a 105-loss team that often embarrassed itself on the field. Another possibility is that he wasn’t healthy, as he missed about a week and a half in July with a sore shoulder after getting hit with a pitch. In fact, over the past two years McCutchen has occasionally been thrown at and the Pirates haven’t done much to retaliate. Oddly, McCutchen went long periods in which he didn’t run much. For instance, he stole ten bases in 12 tries in his first 23 games, but attempted only four steals in the next 28. McCutchen’s defense began to stir controversy. He was generally assumed by most observers to be a good defensive player due to his speed, but the defensive stats don’t bear that out. After two years, UZR and +/- showed him to be well below average. 2011 McCutchen emerged as a middle-of-the-order hitter, batting third most of the year and hitting 23 HRs. He again had long streaks, mainly in the form of struggling through much of the second half. He batted 291/390/505 through his first 88 games and 216/330/392 in his last 70. He had career highs in walks and Ks. He got pitched differently, as pitchers threw him fewer strikes and fewer fastballs. He expanded the strike zone at times, swinging at more pitches out of the strike zone in the past (this data is available at fangraphs.com), but still finished fifth in the NL in walks. Some of this may have resulted from pitchers being more cautious of his increased power, and some of it may have resulted from McCutchen being stuck in a terrible lineup. On the bases, he didn’t run as much or as effectively as before. All of the defensive metrics showed him as being one of the better defensive center fielders, hopefully putting that issue to rest. Some of it may have been experience, some may have been better positioning, as the Pirates employed a lot of controversial outfield positioning in 2010. 2012 McCutchen had a breakout season, establishing himself as one of the best players in the game. He started off slowly from a power standpoint, not hitting his first HR until May 8. At that point he got blistering hot, posting an OPS well over 1.000 each month from May through July. He was especially hot in the last of those three months, when he hit 446/510/739. As in 2011, though, he slumped late in the year, posting an OPS of .693 in August before rebounding to .861 in September. His slump seemed to date from an August 3 game in which Reds closer Aroldis Chapman very obviously beaned McCutchen on purpose. It was at least the second time in McCutchen’s career in which a team intentionally threw at his head, the other one being the Dodgers, and both times the Pirates failed to retaliate. On the season, McCutchen destroyed LHPs, batting 392/464/677. He hit 309/381/518 against RHPs. He didn’t suffer from PNC, as he had almost no home/road split and hit 15 of his 31 HRs at home. Of his HRs at PNC, five went to right or right-center and four to center, showing he has power to all fields. The defensive metrics suggested McCutchen slipped back to below average (UZR) or just about average (+/-), so that debate isn’t over. He did, however, win a Gold Glove. As is often the case with that award, it says more about his hitting than anything else. His base stealing efficiency obviously left a lot to be desired. 2013 McCutchen posted a big season, winning the NL MVP award. He seemed to tone down his approach a little, resulting in fewer HRs, but career highs in doubles and OBP, and a much lower K rate. He continued his career trend in splits, blasting LHPs for a 1.130 OPS, compared to .864 against RHPs. He hit better at PNC than on the road, .963 to .859. In contrast to prior years, he started slowly, with a .731 OPS in April, but got blazing hot in the second half, with OPS totals of .994, 1.019 and .994 in the season’s final three months. His defensive stats, always a source of controversy, were very good according to both UZR and +/-, and he recorded eleven assists. 2014 McCutchen had another MVP-level season, leading the majors in OBP and the NL in OPS and OPS+ (168). He had an OPS over .900 every month but May, when he had no HRs but still had an OPS of .815. In the early season, with many of the Pirates’ hitters struggling, opponents pitched around McCutchen, walking him 42 times in his first 54 games. He got more pitches to hit over the last four months, with more hitters producing throughout the rest of the lineup. For once he had a reverse platoon split, with a .962 OPS against RHPs and .912 against LHPs. His every-other-year pattern with defensive stats continued, as the metrics showed him to be well below average. He took a hit for his arm, as he had only one assist. McCutchen went on the disabled list for the first time in August with a rib fracture. He ended up missing just the minimum 15 days and came back well from the injury. The injury occurred the day after an incident in which MLB’s worst team, the Diamondbacks, and their detestable now-former manager Kirk Gibson intentionally tried to injure McCutchen in retaliation for Ernesto Frieri accidentally breaking Paul Goldschmidt’s finger with a pitch. McCutchen was hit in the back, but it wasn’t clear whether it caused or contributed to his injury the next day. The beaning was one of a number of instances over the last several years in which teams have thrown at McCutchen. 2015 McCutchen started the season in probably the worst slump of his career. Through May 6 he was hitting just 188/279/292. He also was noticeably bothered by his knee, which led to concern that he wasn’t healthy. The next day, though, he got hot and posted an OPS well above .900 for four straight months. He finished the season with a 12-for-57 (.211) stretch, though, leaving his final numbers a little short of what they’d been the previous three years. One factor may have been that teams stopped pitching to him; in one four-game stretch in September, he drew a dozen walks. In the season’s final month he drew 27, which was seven more than in any other month. He missed a chance at his first 100-RBI season, finishing with 96, when he had only one RBI in his last 14 games. He had a milder platoon split than usual, posting a .918 OPS against LHPs and .881 against RHPs. There was no dispute that his knee wasn’t fully healthy. He attempted the fewest steals of his career and the Pirates stated early in the season that they’d told him not to run out balls that clearly were going to be outs. The defensive metrics remained erratic, with UZR showing him going from well below average to just below, and +/- showing him going from average to well below. 2016 McCutchen struggled through easily his worst season. He got off to a slow but not terrible start, hitting 257/339/455 through the end of May. Like many of his teammates, though, he fell into a deep slump in June and July, batting just 242/318/372 over the two months. The Pirates finally benched him for a three-game series in Atlanta at the beginning of August and, from that point on, he hit 284/381/471, which was only slightly below his career norms. Naturally, there was a lot of speculation about the reasons for the bad year. McCutchen was out briefly early in the year with a thumb injury, but there was never any clear indication that either that problem or any other injury accounted for his struggles. Another explanation was that teams were shifting him more often. The most likely culprits, though, were a lack of patience — he set career highs for swinging at pitches outside the strike zone and pitches generally — a sharp increase in his percentage of softly hit balls, and an infield popup frequency that was 50% higher than his career average. The lack of patience was especially telling, as he had 35 walks and 107 strikeouts through July 31, but 34 walks and 36 strikeouts after that. Along with the hitting problems, McCutchen’s play declined in other areas. His defensive play in center by most measures left him far below average. He also grades out as a below average baserunner according to Fangraphs’ measure of runs added on the bases and his ability to steal bases obviously took a large step backward. 2017 The entire stretch from the end of the 2016 season to the end of the 2017 season was one of extreme ups and downs for McCutchen. The Pirates spent part of the 2016-17 off-season listening to offers for him, leading to the usual hysteria about the Pirates trying to dump his salary, but there’s little evidence that a deal was ever close. It also became clear that the Pirates had no intention of trading McCutchen unless they got a very good return. They did, however, decide to move him to right field, with Starling Marte moving to center. Shortly into the season, though, Marte was suspended for 80 games for using a PED and McCutchen moved back to center. The roller coaster didn’t end there. McCutchen struggled through the first two months of the season, batting just 223/301/404 through the end of May. The Pirates even moved him down to sixth in the order and analytical types struggled in vain to find an example of a player of his caliber who’d declined so suddenly and so severely. Then McCutchen made an adjustment to his swing and, in June and July, had two of the best months of his career. From June 1 through August 11, he batted 347/448/620. On August 11, he left a game when he suffered what seemed to be a minor knee injury while stopping at second on a double. He returned on August 13 and, from then through September 3 he hit 181/253/208. From September 4 through the end of the season, McCutchen batted 315/365/562, buoyed by a four-hit, eight-RBI game that included his first career grand slam. The ups and downs were mirrored in McCutchen’s plate discipline: He had 33 walks and 28 strikeouts in June and July, and 40 walks and 88 strikeouts the rest of the season. His platoon split on the season was extreme, as he had a .769 OPS against RHPs and 1.131 against LHPs. A couple of good signs were that his percentage of swinging strikes dropped by 19% and his percentage of infield popups dropped by over a third after spiking in 2016. Defensively, McCutchen remained below average in center, but UZR, at least, showed him to have improved significantly over 2016. His baserunning also improved, according to Fangraphs. After the season, the Pirates finally did trade McCutchen, to San Francisco. They got back Bryan Reynolds, who’s now their best player. 2018 With the Giants, McCutchen dropped off markedly from 2017, especially in the area of power. He did continue to show a lot of patience at the plate. The dropoff came mainly against LHPs, as he hit RHPs about the same as the previous year. He was still good, though, for a respectable OPS+ of 115 while with San Francisco. The Giants played him strictly in right. By the end of August, the Giants were well out of the playoff race and traded McCutchen to the Yankees in a waiver deal, for minimal return. He hit well in New York, regaining some of the power. After the season the Phillies signed him to a three-year deal, with a team option for 2022. 2019 Playing left for Philadelphia, McCutchen had a good first half, hitting a bit better than he had overall in 2018. He had no platoon split at all. He got hurt late June, though, and missed the rest of the season with a torn ACL. 2020 In the pandemic season, McCutchen’s hitting dropped off to a career-low 102 OPS+. His platoon split was huge, with a .944 OPS against LHPs and just .683 against RHPs. He again played strictly in left, apart from serving as the DH some of the time. 2021 As the regular in left for the Phillies, McCutchen rebounded a little, although his average dropped to easily a career low. He had his best home run total in four years and also had a very high walk rate. His platoon split was even bigger than in 2020. After the season, the Phillies declined his 2022 option. 2022 McCutchen didn’t sign anywhere until the middle of spring training, when he inked a one-year deal with the Brewers. He went on to a career-worst season, with both his power and patience declining. As in 2018, the decline was entirely the result of hitting LHPs far less well. He served mainly as the Brewers’ DH. After the season, he became a free agent and signed with the Pirates for $5M. McCutchen’s return will be very popular with Pirate fans and the team is in need of right-handed hitting. They’ll have to be realistic, though, about his usage. It’d be best if he spent time at DH, which raises some questions about Ji-Man Choi, Carlos Santana and Connor Joe, who figured to fill the 1B/DH roles. It’d also be for the better if McCutchen’s plate appearances skewed toward LHPs. |
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CONTRACT INFORMATION
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| 2023: $5,000,000 2022: $8,500,000 2021: $20,000,000 2020: $17,000,000 2019: $10,000,000
2018: $14,750,000 (club option with $1,000,000 buyout) (option exercised 11/3/2017) |
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PLAYER INFORMATION
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| Signing Bonus: $1,900,000 MiLB Debut: 2005 MLB Debut: 6/4/2009 MLB FA Eligible: 2023 Added to 40-Man: 6/4/2009 Options Remaining: N/A MLB Service Time: 13.123 |
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TRANSACTIONS
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| June 7, 2005: Drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1st round, 11th overall pick; signed on June 14. June 3, 2009: Contract purchased by the Pittsburgh Pirates. January 15, 2018: Traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates with cash to the San Francisco Giants for Bryan Reynolds and Kyle Crick and $500,000 international bonus pool space. August 31, 2018: Traded by the San Francisco Giants with cash to the New York Yankees for Abiatal Avelino and Juan De Paula. October 29, 2018: Became a free agent. December 12, 2018: Signed as a free agent by the Philadelphia Phillies. November 3, 2021: Team option declined by the Philadelphia Phillies; became a free agent on November 5. March 14, 2022: Signed as a free agent by the Milwaukee Brewers. November 6, 2022: Became a free agent. January 20, 2023: Signed as a free agent by the Pittsburgh Pirates. |
