Andrew McCutchen is the greatest Pittsburgh Pirates player on this side of 2000, but unfortunately, the plans don’t include him. On Thursday, McCutchen signed a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers after it appeared his stint in Pittsburgh was over. McCutchen deserved to end his career in the Steel City, even if he didn’t fit the roster construction. If he makes it to Cooperstown, he will be sporting the yellow P on his hat.
McCutchen was the face of Pittsburgh baseball from the day he made his debut in 2009. Pittsburgh made him the 11th overall pick in the 2005 MLB June Amateur Draft out of Fort Meade High School. He went on to become a pivotal star in Pirates history. McCutchen was a key part of the team that made the first playoff appearance since 1992 and two more Wild Card appearances after. They don’t sniff the postseason in 2013, 2014, and 2015 without him. Unfortunately, they haven’t been back since those days.
When McCutchen came back to Pittsburgh in 2023, everything felt right again. The former MVP wasn’t in his prime, but he was back where he belonged. He spent his first ten seasons with the Pirates before he was shipped off to San Francisco. He, then, spent a season with the New York Yankees, three in Philadelphia, and another in Milwaukee before arriving back at home in the Steel City that adores him. Unfortunately, the fans don’t get to make the baseball decisions, or else McCutchen would’ve spent his entire career here. Something he was robbed of.
From a baseball perspective, it’s understandable why McCutchen isn’t on this team. He has been playing strictly at designated hitter. He’s still capable in the outfield, but Pittsburgh clearly didn’t see it that way. The additions of Marcell Ozuna, Jake Mangum, and Ryan O’Hearn made it tough to justify keeping McCutchen on the roster, but it still hurts. It didn’t matter how bad the Pirates were, he wanted to be here even through the darkness, and now McCutchen won’t even get the chance to see the light.
In Pittsburgh history, McCutchen is third in home runs, sixth in RBIs and Offensive WAR, and ninth in games played, at-bats, and hits. The 2013 National League MVP was a five-time All-Star, four-time Silver Slugger, and a Gold Glove winner in 2012. In 6,348 at-bats in the black and yellow, he amassed 1,781 hits, 248 home runs, and 875 RBIs with a .281 batting average and a .839 OPS. It doesn’t matter how many teams he has played for; McCutchen will always be synonymous with Pirates baseball. He might not have brought home a trophy, but that was out of his control.
Unlike Sidney Crosby and Ben Roethlisberger, McCutchen wasn’t able to bring a trophy back to the city, but he will always be in the same conversation as them. One man can’t do it all in baseball, and the organization let him down every chance that they could. Despite all the shortcomings, McCutchen made it clear that Pittsburgh was his home, and the city embraced him for that. Through a decade of debacles on the diamond, he provided thrilling moments for an otherwise struggling fanbase.
Although things didn’t end the way they should have, Pittsburgh fans will continue to be supportive of McCutchen, and they will let the front office hear their thoughts on it. As the most important Pirate since Barry Bonds, he gets that kind of love in the city. Unlike Bonds, he always will. Hopefully, he gets the same love from the baseball writers when he has his chance to get into the Hall of Fame. He isn’t a guaranteed first ballot guy, but he does have a case to be immortalized in baseball history.
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