'What we’ve been waiting for:' Recalling Andrew McCutchen's Pirates debut 14 years ago today
Trent Jewett estimated he threw a “bazillion” batting practice sessions over 15 seasons as a minor-league manager with the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.
Through all the years, one particular player stuck out in his mind, one who owned the quickest hands Jewett ever saw.
“I had been around the kid enough to know that he was going to be really good,” Jewett said, “and was going to probably have the most impact on the organization since Jason Kendall, which is saying something.”
That prospect’s name was Andrew McCutchen.
For many who scouted, coached and played with McCutchen during his days in the minor leagues, seeing what the 36-year-old has accomplished over the course of his career hasn’t been surprising.
McCutchen, playing in Pittsburgh again, made his major-league debut with the Pirates exactly 14 years ago: June 4, 2009.
As he closes in on a number of individual accolades, such as 2,000 hits, 300 home runs and 400 career doubles, McCutchen continues to stake his claim as one of the most talented players to put on a Pirates uniform.
Leading into his big-league debut, McCutchen spent parts of five seasons from 2005-09 navigating the Pirates’ farm system.
What McCutchen demonstrated along the way left little doubt in the minds of those around him as to his promise.
Impressing the scouts
Coming out of Fort Meade (Fla.) High School, McCutchen made an eyebrow-raising impression on Jeff Banister, the Pirates’ minor-league field coordinator in 2005.
Ahead of that year’s MLB Draft, with the Pirates strongly considering selecting McCutchen in the first round, Banister was entrusted to drive to Fort Meade and compile a report based on what he saw.
McCutchen ultimately pitched for the Miners the day Banister was in attendance.
A few days later, the Pirates invited McCutchen to take batting practice in Bradenton.
“Within the first five swings, Cutch hits a ball off the top of the batter’s eye in Pirate City, which is 400 feet away, and the walls are about 25 feet high,” Banister said. “We just look at each other and go, ‘Wow.’ ”
14 years running
The abilities McCutchen flashed coming out of high school led to the Pirates selecting him 11th overall in the 2005 MLB Draft.
McCutchen’s rise from promising young player to five-time All-Star and National League MVP coincided with the Pirates’ emergence out of the ashes of 20 consecutive losing seasons from 1993-2012.
Revered in Pittsburgh for his role in resuscitating the Pirates into a winning ball club after two decades of futility, McCutchen was traded to San Francisco in early 2018 after nine years.
After spending most of 2018 with the Giants, McCutchen joined the Yankees that season for 25 games.
From there, he spent three years with the Phillies and 2022 in Milwaukee before this past offseason produced a reunion between him and the Pirates by way of a one-year, $5 million contract.
Back in the city where his career began, McCutchen reflected on the time he has played in the majors.
“There’s parts where I’m like, ‘Yeah, it feels like 14. It does feel like I’ve been here for that long,’ ” McCutchen said. “There’s also times where I see something that happened in the past and I go, ‘Man, I can’t believe that happened that long ago.’ It’s a bit of both. I’m just thankful I’ve been able to play this long.”
A lasting friendship forged
One player McCutchen encountered fairly early in his minor-league career was Neil Walker, the Pirates’ first-round selection in 2004, also 11th overall.
McCutchen and Walker befriended one another as teenagers during their time traversing the Pirates’ minor-league system together, a bond that continued after both were called up to the big leagues in 2009.
“We immediately hit it off,” Walker said. “We were both under 20 years old at that time and were both trying to navigate this world of professional sports. We just naturally gravitated towards one another and sparked up a friendship.”
As it turned out, McCutchen and Walker’s minor-league careers ran somewhat parallel, with the two playing together at Double-A Altoona in 2006 and ’07 and Triple-A Indianapolis in 2007, ’08 and ’09.
“Us being able to — once we got to Double-A — go through the minor leagues together, we were going through it, and it was always good to have someone to do it with,” McCutchen said. “To have him with me and us with each other, we were able to pick each other up and also go through things together, good or bad. It was nice to have that relationship with him.”
As a highly regarded pick who produced a career .504 high-school batting average at Pine-Richland, Walker had to go no further than his own bathroom mirror to see a baseball prospect with major upside and potential.
And yet, despite his abilities, Walker took particular note of McCutchen.
“Getting to watch him on a daily basis, how athletic he was, the things that he couldn’t do were so few,” said Walker, who later played for the New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers, New York Yankees, Miami Marlins and Philadelphia Phillies.
“I still to this day say that he was probably the best player I ever played with.”
Ascending the farm system
McCutchen’s rise through the Pirates’ farm system was largely a steady, upward climb.
In 2007, after playing the majority of the season with the Altoona Curve, McCutchen got his first taste at the Triple-A level.
Jewett had known of McCutchen since before the 2005 draft, when, at the time, the Pirates also were considering selecting Jay Bruce with their first-round pick.
At 20 years old, McCutchen quickly made an impression.
“You could count on him,” recalled Jewett, the Indians’ skipper from 2005-08. “He would be where he was supposed to be when he was supposed to be. He was just somebody that you felt like you could have your concerns elsewhere because he’d take care of his responsibilities.”
In his 17-game stint with the Indians in 2007, McCutchen batted .313.
Hensley “Bam Bam” Meulens was Indianapolis’ hitting coach at the time.
Now with the Colorado Rockies, Meulens oversaw San Francisco’s hitters from 2010-18, helping the Giants to three World Series titles.
In 2007-08, Meulens assisted McCutchen in refining his swing.
“The thing I remember the most is how quick his hands were,” Meulens said. “His recognition ability was uncanny, better than anyone in the league. He picked up the ball early. He knew the strike zone, and he still does. Recognition of pitches, velocity and all that stuff, he could tell whether a pitch was going to be a strike or not.”
Waiting for the call
Akin to current calls among the Pirates’ fanbase for the club to promote top prospects Henry Davis and Endy Rodriguez, such clamoring existed in 2007 and ’08 for McCutchen and Walker to make their major league debuts.
Particularly, toward the end of the 2008 campaign in Indianapolis, Walker and McCutchen thought the time could be right.
“We were on pins and needles to see if we were going to get September call-ups,” Walker said. “That didn’t happen, but we both felt like we were creating an identity as far as baseball players — understanding the things that we do well and the things that maybe we don’t do so well — and how to maximize our potential.”
McCutchen batted .283 with nine home runs and 50 RBIs that year with the Indians.
Despite a consistent season and feeling he had demonstrated enough to warrant a promotion, the desired call-up did not come.
“When September rolled around, we thought we’d be some of the ones that they called up,” McCutchen said. “I actually thought that I was going to have that opportunity, so it was somewhat of a surprise, considering where the Pirates were in ’08 in September.”
Setting the stage
Pirates broadcaster Greg Brown remembered hearing the word “dynamic” and even a phrase as strong as “generational talent” used to describe McCutchen when the latter was working his way through the minor leagues.
But McCutchen began the 2009 campaign in Indianapolis, and the Pirates seemingly were set at center field, with Nate McLouth coming off an All-Star appearance in 2008.
In February of that year, the Pirates had signed McLouth to a three-year, $15.75 million contract after he hit .276 with 26 home runs, 94 RBIs and an MLB-leading 46 doubles the season prior.
However, less than two full months into the season, on June 3, with the Pirates sporting a 24-28 record, general manager Neal Huntington made a surprising move.
Much to the chagrin of Pirates fans, McLouth was shipped to the Braves in exchange for pitcher Charlie Morton and prospects Jeff Locke and Gorkys Hernandez.
“I can remember vividly when they traded McLouth to Atlanta,” Brown said. “The outrage amongst Pirates fans, I remember it vividly. … You have to remember how angry people were, because McLouth was one of those guys that they were hanging their hat on. They liked him a lot — Gold Glover, All-Star guy — and his (trade) was one of those, ‘Here we go again’ (moments).”
The trade of McLouth corresponded directly to the calling up of McCutchen, which transpired the same day.
Word of his promotion came to McCutchen as he was taking a nap in his Indianapolis apartment, with the Indians’ scheduled game that day having been called off because of rain.
Unaware of the McLouth trade or its implications, McCutchen took in the good news from Indianapolis manager Frank Kremblas.
“He told me, and I didn’t believe him at first,” McCutchen said. “But the actuality of it was cool. I called my parents and told them, and it seemed like pretty much everything sped up after that.”
McCutchen joined the club for the finale of a three-game series at PNC Park against the New York Mets on June 4, making his much-anticipated MLB debut.
A debut to remember
From the broadcast booth at PNC Park, Brown found himself thinking big picture, having gotten a first look at the prospect about whom he had heard so much.
“I know I had the feeling that night of, ‘This is what we’ve been waiting for,’ ” Brown said. “That this guy could be the cornerstone and could lead the team to the promised land. Without saying that, we all had that feeling. It was that ‘wow’ moment that we hadn’t had in such a long time.”
McCutchen’s big-league debut was full of flair.
He went 2 for 4 with an RBI and three runs scored in an 11-6 win over the Mets.
“I still remember it like it was yesterday,” McCutchen said. “From the flight in, looking down at Pittsburgh, when I was driving into Pittsburgh, getting here to the field and meeting Karstens — Jeff Karstens was the first player that I met on the team — to seeing my jersey here in this locker. It was a great all-around day.”
McCutchen was plugged into the leadoff slot and singled in his first at-bat, hitting a 1-2 fastball from New York starter Mike Pelfrey up the middle.
After flying out in the second, McCutchen walked in the fourth before grounding out the following inning in his fourth at-bat.
Then, in the seventh, McCutchen collected his first major-league RBI on a single to right field and, shortly thereafter, stole his first base.
A fruitful reunion
McCutchen’s return to Pittsburgh was predictably met with much excitement by the club’s fanbase and through two months of the season, the 36-year-old has lived up to expectations as a steadying presence in the clubhouse.
On the field, his contributions have been easily visible, as he is slashing .272/.368/.444 with eight home runs and 21 RBIs through 51 games, serving primarily as designated hitter.
“The way he’s playing, it doesn’t seem like 14 years,” Brown said. “He’s still so useful in everything he does. It does not feel like 14 years.”
While McCutchen historically has shied away from hyping up his own individual accomplishments, this month and this year are bound to be full of some big ones.
As of Sunday morning, he is three hits short of 2,000, one double away from 400 and needs five more home runs to have hit 300 over his 14-year career.
He also collected five All-Star appearances in his first stint with the Pirates, in addition to the 2013 NL MVP, a Gold Glove in 2012 and four Silver Sluggers.
Only Willie Stargell, Ralph Kiner and Roberto Clemente hit more home runs in a Pirates uniform.
In a multitude of statistical categories, including runs, hits, RBIs and on-base percentage, McCutchen sits just outside the top 10 in franchise history.
McCutchen’s career has proven to be a manifestation of all the things he showed coming up through the minors.
“None of us were really shocked when he was able to perform the way he did,” Banister said. “None of us were really shocked when he won the MVP. We got to know him, his love for the game, his love for his teammates, how hard he worked and we just felt that he was a special player all the way through.”
Justin Guerriero is a TribLive reporter covering the Penguins, Pirates and college sports. A Pittsburgh native, he is a Central Catholic and University of Colorado graduate. He joined the Trib in 2022 after covering the Colorado Buffaloes for Rivals and freelancing for the Denver Post. He can be reached at jguerriero@triblive.com.
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