Andrew McCutchen says goodbye to visitors' clubhouse at PNC Park, hello to new career chapter

Perhaps the most difficult part of Andrew McCutchen’s day was meeting with a room full of reporters Friday morning — before his first cup of coffee.

But that was OK. Because the best part of his day already had happened.

All he had to do was walk inside PNC Park — and keep walking.

“It was something, walking and going past the visitors’ clubhouse. I was, ‘Thank, God,’ ” McCutchen said 5½ hours before the first pitch of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ home opener.

“When I was on other teams, and I would come in, you come right in and you walk right in there, you didn’t walk farther. There was no reason.”

Now, there’s a reason to keep going.

Andrew McCutchen: “I have an understanding of who I am as a person and a player.” pic.twitter.com/7WuhTl00Ax

— Jerry DiPaola (@JDiPaola_Trib) April 7, 2023

McCutchen, 36, was penciled into the Pirates starting lineup as the designated hitter Friday, received a rousing welcome from the sellout crowd and responded with two singles in five at-bats. Thanks to home-plate umpire Ryan Wills, who gave him a few seconds to compose himself before he had to step into the batter’s box.

Center field is the domain of Jack Suwinski and Bryan Reynolds these days, but McCutchen batted third, a place in the order he had been for 1,062 previous games of his 15-year career.

“Nothing against anyone in that (visiting) clubhouse who works there, Kevin Conrad, they’re great,” he said. “That was not something I looked forward to, coming to Pittsburgh on the opposing side. It was nice to just keep going and get that extra breath, get back to this side.”

After he met with reporters for 21 minutes — chatting amiably about the old days, days to come and his family — he finally had the chance to enter the Pirates clubhouse as a member of the home team for the first time in six years.

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He talked about how much that simple process meant to him.

“Go back, sit in my locker, in my chair, it takes me 15 minutes to take one article of clothing off,” he said. “That’s just who I am. I just put these on. Why do I want to change so fast? I just sit in my chair and have a cup of coffee, which I haven’t had yet.

“It’s a good feeling to be back and look around and see everybody walking in. Everybody’s excited.”

The only thing missing was a heater, he said, but that didn’t cool his feelings for his familiar, old surroundings.

“The clubhouse is really cold,” he said. Yet he added, “It’s great to be back.”

Part of the McCutchen’s joy in returning to the Pirates — where he was National League MVP in 2013, a five-time All-Star and a catalyst toward wiping out 20 years of losing baseball in Pittsburgh — was getting to share it with his family.

“My oldest, Steel, he’s 5. He kind of has somewhat of an understanding of when I tell him something, he gets it,” McCutchen said. “The biggest thing I tell them, I’m not going to be away. I’m not going to be in Milwaukee, Philadelphia. We’re not going there. You get to stay home, sleep in your own bed, and when dad goes to work, work is the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“My second, Armani, is 3, so he doesn’t quite get it yet. They’ll start to get it when they come to the games and all they really care about is the Parrot and the Pierogies.”

The best, he said, is answering Steel’s questions about the awards he won before he had children.

“It’s a great situation to be in because they see all the pictures, they see all the awards and my son is asking questions like, ‘What’s that silver bat? What’s that gold glove there?’

“I’m able to explain it to him, and he’s like, ‘Why do you have long hair?’ It’s cool because I’m able to tell them stories about that time (when he had dreadlocks), which was that time before they were here.

“And now they’re going to be able to experience it with me. We’re going to be able to see reasons of why daddy loves the Pirates.”

McCutchen said he didn’t join the Pirates just to write another chapter of rejuvenation. He said the team already is on that path.

“I came because I saw a team that was good and just very inconsistent. There’s a difference,” he said.

But he acknowledged the importance of having veteran players in the clubhouse.

“You need the A.J. Burnetts, the Russell Martins, the Francisco Lirianos and the Jason Grillis,” he said. “You need those guys around the clubhouse to help formulate a really good team.

“You play 162 games, that’s a long time and there’s a lot that happens within that 162. If you’re not careful, you can dig yourself a hole too deep that you cannot climb out of if you don’t know what to expect.

“When you have those guys, they’re able to pick you up and say, ‘It’s all right. We know what we need to do.’

“It may be something as simple as (former Pirates shortstop) Clint Barmes coming in the clubhouse with a cigarette in his mouth after we just lost five games in a row and he’s just puffing a cigarette and he’s telling us, ‘Get your heads out of your tails.’

“We get a chuckle, we laugh and the next day we come in and we start rolling again. It’s things like that that are so small, but they go such a long way.”